Story 1: Specters of the Past
by LenoraLana
Summary: David Banner is, as always, on the run and trying to do what he can to find a Hulk cure. But all that may change, at least for a while, when he meets a familiar face from his past that will lead to some very unexpected discoveries...
1. Chapter 1

_**A/N: I am now re-uploading this story. It has been edited and given a nice coat of polish. I owe a great debt of gratitude to the friend who helped by letting me discuss ideas with her, helping me with the dialogue and some of the situations/scenarios, and I can safely say this story wouldn't be here if it wasn't for her.**_

_**Full credit for proof-reading and helping with the dialogue (among other things) goes to my friend, who is known as VoyagerG on Fanfiction, and she is known as MissBrookln80 on A03. She also has some stories listed under the name **__**G-Of-The Rivers on Fanfiction. Please be sure to check out her stories. :)**_

_**Furthermore, there will eventually be a third story in this series written. But we would like to take some time to let everybody read the updated version of this story first, and I would like to take some time to plan out the next story a bit more. Hopefully, we will proceed with the series later this Summer. **_

**Chapter 1**

For the most part, it was the same as it ever was. David was in the process of applying for a job at a laboratory that would, hopefully, not only contain chemicals and other advanced technology that could lead to a cure for the metamorphosis, but also a relatively easy-access to them.

After a brief phone conversation David arranged for an interview. Thankfully, this was one of those times he was within walking distance. He didn't need to rely on hitch-hiking or hopping the back of pick-ups to get there on time.

When he arrived at the lab, he was moderately impressed and looked around the sparkling lobby. The building was smaller than average, but the fixtures, decor, and more importantly, the equipment, were state-of-the-art.

"May I help you?" a plump, dark-haired receptionist asked.

"Yes, I'm here for a job interview," David answered.

"Of course," the receptionist looked through a filebox. "May I have your name?"

"David Baxton. I was told to see Peter Helgan at six."

"Ah yes, here you are. But," the woman glanced up, "I'm afraid Mr. Helgan isn't here right now. He had to leave a while ago because his daughter was in an accident."

David's heart sank. "Is she alright?"

"From what I gather, the girl rode her bike recklessly into traffic. She was hit by a car, and sustained bumps, bruises and a small concussion. Mr. Helgan needed to see her, but your job interview will proceed as scheduled. Go into the office around the corner." The receptionist pointed left.

"Thank you," David smiled and inclined his head, then proceeded without another word. He walked down the hall and rounded the corner to the office. He knocked softly and waited for a response.

When the door opened, David froze. He found himself staring at a familiar face, the bobbed, wavy dark-blonde hair, and all-around attractive face, but he couldn't remember her name.

David had rare occasions over the last few years, where he bumped into someone he'd previously met. It was bound to happen, particularly since he traveled all over the country after the metamorphosis began. There were times he could play innocent, pretending other people were mistaken, but more often he was forced to admit they'd previously crossed paths. It also meant that he'd have to leave sooner than later.

"Hello, please come in," the woman ushered him inside. She stared at him with brief familiarity.

David hesitated, unsure if he should politely take his leave, but entered the office anyway. The woman shut the door and faced him.

"My name is Tasha Pines. And you are…?"

David grasped her proffered hand. "David Baxton."

Now he knew where he'd seen Tasha Pines before. The Culver Institute, where his journey started.

"David," Tasha folded her arms. "What position were you interviewing for?"

"The janitorial position."

They exchanged a meaningful look. David instantly regretted staying. He should have bolted the moment he recognized her.

"You seem familiar, Mr. Baxton." Tasha let her words hang between them.

David shook his head. "I don't believe we've met. May we proceed with the interview?"

"Hold on." Tasha scrutinized him further.

David ducked his head. "Is there something wrong?"

"No, nothing's wrong." Tasha cleared her throat and sat behind her desk, motioning him to take the seat across from her. "Yes, let's get on with your interview."

They went over his qualifications – But there wasn't much needed to review for a janitorial position. She gave him a brief run-down of what his duties would entail. The interview concluded and they shook hands. Tasha informed him that he had the job if he still wanted it.

"Can you begin immediately? Today? We haven't had a janitor in three days. The big bosses hope to see this place spick-and-span by the end of the day. " Tasha asked.

"Absolutely. Spick-and-span. I promise." David smiled.

"Great. You'll find the cleaning supplies in the supply closet down the hall, to the left, we'll need to order you a new uniform but there's some cleaning smocks in the closet." Tasha said. "Oh, and Mr. Baxton?"

"Hm?"

"Since this is part time, your shift ends by ten. Your hours would be five to ten pm. I'd like to speak with you before you leave."

"Alright."

They parted ways, leaving David to work. David took time to familiarize himself with the layout and where all of the equipment and lab chemicals were stored, any resource he might find useful in his search for a cure.

He couldn't help feeling concerned. What did Tasha Pines want to talk about? From what he remembered, she was barely more than an acquaintance before his tragic "death." He planned to leave as soon as possible. It wouldn't be the first time he'd been forced to abandon a job or skip town quickly.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o**

David's first day on the job sailed by with his sweeping, mopping, dusting, and from understanding the significance of a laboratory, deep disinfecting. Ten minutes before his shift ended, he put the supply cart and vacuum cleaner away and looked over the area to make certain he hadn't missed any spots. Satisfied, David clocked out and went to find Tasha.

Tasha waited for him in her office. "Thank you for coming. I really need to talk to you."

David gulped hard. "About what?"

Tasha exhaled, and faced him slowly. "Let's stop kidding ourselves…you _are_ Dr. David Banner from the original Culver Institute."

David tensed, but smoothly tried to deny it. "You must be mistaken, Miss Pines. My name is David Baxton."

His flinching gaze betrayed him. David knew he had to take a chance working here to have full lab access.

Tasha shook her head. "I know it's you, Dr. Banner. We didn't work together directly, but I assisted you and Dr. Elaina Marks on certain projects. But I worked primarily with Dr. Esben Hansen."

David's eyes darkened as he remembered the circumstances surrounding Dr. Hansen.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0 **

**(Flashback: 1977)**

Dr. David Banner rapped hard against the white, wooden door of a large country-style home. His patience had fled and he was beyond caring about the racket. He felt livid. After a second round of impatient bangs, the door finally opened and a tall, strawberry-blonde haired man with inquisitive blue eyes and stern but handsome features came out.

Dr. Esben Hansen smiled like the cat who caught the canary. "David! Good to see you, friend. I was hoping you'd stop by. We have a lot to discuss."

David clamped his lips into a thin line and held up an article taken from the morning's newspaper. "The feeling's not mutual_. _You're right we do. Care to explain this story, _friend?_"

Esben glanced at the sensational headline. "I'm well aware of this, particularly since I personally asked for a story and they sent Jack McGee. What of it, David?" He feigned wide-eyed innocence.

"According to this," David jabbed a finger at the second paragraph, "you and I have agreed to work together on your 'fantastic' biological research and quest to combine animal and human DNA."

"David, David," Esben crooned, "I thought some pressure from the press and interest from the public might help you see things my way. You know how much this project means to me. How important it'd be to the world! If we could join on this and pool our resources-"

"I already said in no uncertain terms that I will _not_ help you," David snapped. "I find these ideas abhorrent and unethical. This isn't '_The Island of Dr. Moreau'_! You had no right to go behind my back and say this, especially not to this rag!"

David hated the crass sensational reporting of the _National Register._

"David, be reasonable." Esben tucked the paper under his arm and faced him seriously. "There are very interested parties willing to fund my research. I intend to do everything in my power to prove my theories successfully. I could use someone of your talents-"

"The answer is _no._ Now," David wagged his finger, "I'm going down to the _National Register_ to clear this up and demand a correction. You need to understand, _Dr. Hansen_, that I will never get involved. And," David cut off Esben's retort, "if you persist with some of those _experiments_ I know you're conducting, I'll have to speak to the Board of Directors."

Esben's expression turned ice cold. "I've come too far to stop now. Too close. You do what you feel you have to do, _Dr. Banner_. Just remember, I _won't _forget this." He slapped the newspaper clipping against David's chest, forcing him back down the porch steps. "Give Laura my best, and goodbye!"

Esben Hansen turned and slammed the door shut.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

That same afternoon, David had marched himself down to find Jack McGee. It was the first time David had an issue with the reporter, before the problems with the Hulk even started.

David had told McGee that he should've come to him directly before publishing the article, and that a good reporter would've substantiated Esben's claims. The phrasing of the article made it sound as though the Scientists had readily agreed to work together and that David was excited to mix his research and testing on the limits of human strength with Hansen's breakthroughs.

McGee had insisted he'd covered the story for a sick colleague and just used all his notes without question because they had to get to the paper to press. To McGee's credit, he had offered to print a retraction, but the Editor-in-chief refused to run it. The damage had been done and had caused David to lose respect for the reporter.

"You discredited Dr. Hansen's work," Tasha's voice forced David's thoughts back to the present, "and he was dismissed from the Institute."

David said nothing.

"Look," Tasha continued, "I don't know what's going on or why you've let everyone think you're dead. But since you've come out of the woodwork, maybe you can help someone."

"Help who?"

"Dr. Hansen never stopped his experiments, even after you shattered his reputation and brought his unethical practices to the light," Tasha said wryly. "He might've been forced to leave the Institute, but he went underground and took advantage of resources that were offered by wealthy benefactors."

David's forehead crinkled as he processed this information. "I see. He used those interested parties he once bragged about. Or, they used him. To what end? What did he do?"

"Esben's research was successful, Dr. Banner."

"You didn't answer my question, Miss Pines."

Tasha stammered, she wasn't sure where to even begin. "Could you come to my place? It might be best if I… show you."

Tasha noted David's wary expression and tense body language. Chances are he'd be gone by morning. She had to soften her approach if she wanted him to stay and help her. "David, I knew from the moment I saw you that you're Dr. Banner. I haven't told anyone your secret, and I don't intend to. I really need your help. More to the point," she added quickly, "an innocent young woman needs your help. She is…" Tasha chose her next words carefully. "She's the result of Dr. Hansen's _successful_ experimentation."

David's mouth tightened. "Oh no. Is she alright?"

"She's not hurt, if that's what you think. But you need to come see for yourself."

David studied Tasha for a moment, trying to glean the truth from her expression and mannerisms. Could he really trust her, especially considering her association with someone like Esben Hansen?

Tasha claimed she hadn't told anyone about him. It would've drawn attention by now if she had told her colleagues. She also seemed to be going out on a limb getting him involved with Esben's secret experiment. If Esben was still up to no good, he needed to be stopped… or at the very least, David needed to see the physical results.

"Okay, Tasha, I'll go with you."

Tasha grabbed keys from her purse. "I knew you'd help. You're just as curious as Esben, but much kinder. My car is parked right outside. We'll go now."

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

David remained guarded even while they made a brief pit-stop at fast food drive-thru. He politely declined her offer to purchase him food while she ordered a small meal and a cup of coffee for herself. David changed his mind and handed her a dollar for a large coffee. He had a feeling he'd need it tonight.

When they hit the road again, he began a line of questioning he'd mulled over since leaving the lab.

"Tasha, where's Dr. Hansen now?"

She was reluctant to answer. "I'm not sure. The last I heard, he had gone further underground. No one knows where he is now."

"You keep saying he's underground. Is he a mole? Do you mean a literal building somewhere?"

Tasha nodded quickly. "When I say _underground_, I mean it literally too."

David shook his head. "He definitely needs a lab and a lot of space for his line of work. Did you assist him while he conducted the recent experiments you mentioned?" David eyed her carefully.

"Yes." Her fingers tightened around the steering wheel. "I helped him."

"How many people did he experiment on?"

"I assisted with about a dozen, but there were at least a dozen others I didn't meet, possibly more."

"What happened to them?"

"I'm not sure." She eyed the uncertainty on David's face. "Not everyone made it…don't look at me like that. I helped the only one I could! She's been staying at my place."

Tasha glued her gaze to the road. David was good at reading people, and she kept a lot of Esben's secrets close to the vest. She still came off as a poor liar.

"So what kind of work did you do for Esben?"

"I was his primary assistant with everything from paperwork to injections and first aid. He kept a small staff to keep costs down. Esben felt the less who knew the better. Most of the funds went to lab equipment, medical supplies, and…" Tasha muttered under breath.

"What else? I didn't hear that." David pressed.

"Cages. A lot of cages."

"I take it these weren't bird cages." David sighed. Esben Hansen had gone full blown _Mad Scientist _mode.

"Anyway, you'll understand better when we get to my place. After a few years, I couldn't do it anymore. I secured my current job, but I still had access to Esben's lab and I busted the girl out. I've hid her for two weeks."

David was puzzled. "So you came to work here, under your real name? And Esben just let you go so easily?" Either something shady was going on, or Tasha was plain foolish. There was no telling what lengths Esben would go to find the assistant who betrayed him, not to mention, a person he'd experimented on.

"I know what you're thinking. So far, Esben hasn't found me."

"Not yet anyway. You've become a liability and ran off with a part of his life's work."

"Look, I can only get work that pays the bills if I use my _real_ name and references. This lab was iffy about hiring someone formerly associated with Dr. Hansen, but they gave me a chance and I won them over." She shrugged, "I've been off the grid for five years, since Dr. Hansen was discredited and your apparent 'death' happened a few months afterward. We all lost our jobs when Culver Institute blew to pieces."

"You worked with Hansen until recently," David pointed out. "Tasha, _where_ is this facility? _Underground_ could be anywhere from the North Pole to China."

"It's a very remote location in Texas." Tasha finally spared him a meaningful glance. "I heard that many of the individuals who helped construct it were… _eliminated_…in order to help keep its location and existence quiet. Some even became unwilling experiments for Dr. Hansen."

David felt horrified. "Yet even after all that, you stayed with him? You're an accessory to the murder of all those people." David crossed his arms.

"No, I didn't realize who they were, I thought they were volunteers. And I had nothing to do with the construction of this place."

"Why did you have a change of heart, Tasha?" Although Tasha Pines had an opportunistic nature, David didn't sense malevolence in her and was sure Esben and anyone else he'd hired was solely responsible for the murders. But she still had a lot to answer for.

Tasha's cheeks flamed and she cringed with guilt. "You're giving me that look again. David, it reached a point where I couldn't do this anymore. Every time I saw someone die, or suffering…" A shudder rolled through Tasha's body. "At first, I really thought it wouldn't work and Esben would give up. But one day, he was successful. And it was terrifying. The stuff of horror films. When it happened, I knew it wouldn't stop there. I saw the agreements. His benefactors only needed one successful case and DNA sample, but I knew Esben would use this girl for his own agenda. He made deals with others. I had to get her out of there."

"What is so significant about this girl?" David asked.

It was a long moment before Tasha answered. "After many failed attempts to rewrite human DNA and combine it with animals, Esben finally got his perfect specimen. She's everything he wanted, a perfect balance between animal and human. She's… the prototype. And he can use her to make others."

A chill ran down David's spine. Unspeakable acts had been committed by Dr. Hansen in the name of science and greed. He wasn't the first, nor the last Scientist, to take part in such endeavors. David wondered if he had it in himself to go that far with his own research. He and Elaina had already evaluated about a dozen people who'd displayed extraordinary strength in stressful situations and then he'd discovered the Gamma Ray levels were the key. But even with his angry impatience he only thought to use himself as the guinea pig.

Tasha went on, "I couldn't let this happen to her."

"What kind of experiments did Esben and your staff do?" David dared to ask.

Tasha winced at his implications and ignored his probing questions. It was a firm reminder that although she tried to be noble, she was an accomplice.

"We're here," Tasha said as she pulled into the driveway of a modest, rented Suburban home. "You should see for yourself, she's inside."

Once they went in, the girl was nowhere to be found. The small house consisted of a modest living room, two bedrooms, a kitchen, a bathroom, and a larger than normal storage closet.

"Looks like she's left, maybe went to the store?" David stated after they made a thorough search around.

Tasha sighed. "She does this sometimes, she'll be back. She always returns."

"Why would she leave?"

"Sometimes she gets skittish around new people, though I don't have company often," Tasha sighed. "She might also be…"

"What?" David pressed when Tasha trailed off.

"David, some things are difficult to explain," Tasha said without clarifying. "Look, while we wait for her, I could at least show you Dr. Esben's lab notes. It should give you a pretty good idea of what he did and… what she's become."

Tasha went into the storage room and pulled out file folders and notebooks. It took two trips even with David's help to carry the armloads of items into the living room. They plunked all of them onto the coffee table.

"I'll put on some more coffee, one cup isn't gonna do it for me tonight," Tasha said, leaving him alone as she headed off into the kitchen.

David acknowledged her with a nod as he quickly became engrossed with the contents of the notebooks. He poured through notes that shocked him in some, and left him with a mixture of horrified fascination in others. Esben belonged in a horror film. He was a modern-day Frankenstein, only he didn't raise the dead.

Not only had Dr. Hansen performed grueling and meticulous experiments on live human subjects, but he'd personally taken some of Dr. Banner's hypotheses and discoveries after David's supposed death. Esben not only referenced them, but researched his theories more deeply than David ever would've. Esben crossed nearly every line. It almost put David to shame. And he paused from reading to sit back and reflect.

Any of the theories or discoveries that David had unintentionally supplied, however, were merely ideas waiting to be discovered. One couldn't be faulted for finding something that pre-existed in nature or science.

As a fellow Scientist, David understood why Esben had tried to manipulate and pressure him into helping with certain experiments. Esben always had brilliant and wild theories, but David knew how to make them work pragmatically. If David had been the immoral sort, there was no telling what he could've helped Esben discover with less tragic, experimental consequences.

David had always believed firmly in the sanctity of life. Dr. Esben Hansen, evidently, did not, he only believed in the means to an end. He'd twisted and perverted some of David's theories in a way that David never would have intended.

David didn't even realize how long he'd been absorbed reading until he glanced up at one point and noticed the sun had risen. Tasha was half-seated, half-sprawled, on a small couch across from him, snoring softly. The cool coffee pot reminded David that he had indulged in at least three cups without even realizing.

He checked his watch, making a mental note to remember to be at work by five pm as his schedule dictated. There was still time, however; it was barely 5AM.

One thing was certain. Any thoughts of finding a Hulk cure could wait… at least until he met the afflicted individual personally to see if there was anything he could do. But he also couldn't shirk his responsibilities. Tasha had already given him permission to crash in the house, and since he had a job, he would be situated… at least until his next Hulk-out.

In the meantime he wanted to continue to study the research, and hope that the girl would return. Thus far, there'd been no sign of her, but only time would tell.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

"How did you get all of those notebooks and papers?" David asked as Tasha pulled her SUV out of her driveway.

Tasha concentrated on driving as she finished backing out and got onto the road. "I managed to get my hands on them and shove them into a large backpack before I left. I thought they would be helpful," she said.

"You really got a lot," David commented, "despite the fact that you had to leave in a hurry. It must've weighed a ton. It took the both of us two trips to bring it all out."

"Well," Tasha sighed, "the truth is… there was a riot going on at the time and I was able to sneak back and forth."

"A _riot_?"

"Yeah… some of the experimental patients got a bit unruly. They proved to be more than Esben could handle and he was very preoccupied with them. I used the opportunity to grab whatever I could get my hands on and get out fast."

"Esben must be more furious now. So, you came out here, to Minnosota."

"Yeah, pretty much," Tasha gave a shrug. "The girl and I took a bus as far as we could, then switched over to a train the rest of the way. I had enough life-savings to rent that house, and it wasn't long before I got that job at the lab."

"What were you planning on doing?" David asked. "Eventually he'll track you down."

"I don't use any credit and I pay any bills in person. No mail. Anyway, I wasn't really sure what we'd do. I guess I hoped that I could find discreet ways to do my own research with some of the resources at work. It has a good medical lab and other research departments."

"Hmm," David hummed in acknowledgement. They shared the same reasons for obtaining a job at a lab. "Did you hear any news after this riot?"

"None. And I've checked."

Dr. Hansen might be dead, especially if some of the other transformed patients had gotten ahold of him. It had sounded like chaos had reigned that night Tasha escaped.

"Tasha, the papers only referred to the young woman as Subject Seven. And so far we've only called her 'the girl'. What's her name?"

"Her name's Sarah," Tasha supplied. "She was designated 'Subject Seven' because seven is a lucky number, and she successfully made the transition. Plus," Tasha winced, "giving them a number instead of using their names made them feel less human and easier to deal with."

"Is there a chance I'll get to meet Sarah? She didn't come home at all." David refused to even refer to her as "Subject Seven". Sarah was an individual, not an object or an animal.

"I hope so. She always returns."

"So you've said. But why does she run off in the first place?"

"Why do any of us run? Freedom. And in her…condition…she needs the wide outdoors. Sometimes, she'll be gone for two or three days."

"Why? Where does she go?"

"I'm not entirely sure, but it's in a nearby forest."

"Where is the forest?"

"It's about five miles West," Tasha made a hand motion and placed it back on the wheel.

She mentioned distance like it was nothing, and David's brow furrowed, "_Five_ miles? That's quite a hike! You're making it sound like she just went into the backyard."

"You'd be amazed how fast Sarah can move when she wants to. It's part of how we got away in the first place. She… carried me."

David's eyes widened at the thought. He'd done that himself a number of times, and it wasn't easy even with his male strength. "I see. Why does she go into the woods? What's she doing out there?"

"I think in a way, she feels more at home there than she does in an actual building. It's the… animal side of her taking over, it makes her feel one-with-nature. She also…hunts for food."

Tasha looked and sounded like the prospect left a bad taste in her mouth.

"According to the notes, she transforms into something very similar to a _canis lupus_. The notes also said that she has a rapid metabolism which requires frequent nourishment." His eyes narrowed. "Are you trying to tell me that she hunts animals for food?"

"Yeah. Not every day, but that's what I'm saying, David," Tasha answered stiffly, once again not meeting his eyes.

"Normally, I would be very concerned," David said, "considering how sick an average person could get from eating raw meat. But according to Dr. Hansen's follow-up tests, she has a very robust immune system."

Tasha nodded. Some of the test papers had clearly shown results from Esben deliberately injecting chemicals or force feeding test subjects with things to see how their systems would react. It seemed nearly impossible to poison them or make them ill, and their rapid metabolism also included a fast regeneration rate. Poisons and diseases were neutralized and any damage done to the tissues, bloodstream or internal organs had repaired themselves instantaneously.

This often led the subjects to possess a very hearty appetite particularly when they were in wolf form. Binge-eating up to 500lbs of meat would sustain one werewolf for a day, maybe two at most. The amount of food required to satisfy their unique metabolisms only increased if the individual's regeneration had used up energy while recovering from injury, poison, infection, or a combination thereof.

"So is that why Saran's been away for so long?" David asked. "Is she tanking up on whatever she can... " David gestured, trying to find the right words. "…find to eat?"

"From what she's told me," Tasha said, "Sarah will sometimes snack on as many deer as she can find… or possibly other animals, until she's had her fill. Sometimes, she deliberately uses this as an excuse to stay away for other reasons. But like I've said," Tasha stared out the window thoughtfully, "she always comes back, eventually. Sarah has nowhere to go, and she is hoping I can cure her or help her understand the condition. She's a free spirit, David. She needs that freedom, especially after being held in containment and treated no better than a lab rat for months."

David understood. The studies had shown that while the subjects could be provoked into transforming, sometimes unintentionally, it took focus and willpower for them to change back into human form. Either way, morphing was a choice for them, a fact he envied.

David still didn't understand how a metamorphosis could occur deliberately. He made a mental note to investigate, particularly since these mutants – especially Sarah herself – had developed an uncanny level of control and self-awareness of their own actions while in wolf form. For all he knew, it could lead to an answer to his own metamorphosis. But for the time-being, there were other matters to contend with.

"We're here," Tasha stated as she parked in her usual spot near the lab building.

"I'll see you tonight, after work," David said as he got out. For now, he would focus on his tasks and getting through his shift. He hoped to meet Sarah the Werewolf that night.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

**Flashback: 1972**

Elaina Marks navigated the crowd of party-goers, making her way to David Banner while firmly gripping her champagne flute. It was a wonder she'd managed to keep her drink from sloshing onto her dress, but like her personality, she remained calm and steady.

"Well, at least the shindig is nearly over," she stated with jovial relief as she entered David's earshot.

"Hmm… yes," David acknowledged with a grunt and small sip of champagne. "I for one can't wait to leave, … but we have to show our faces and kiss up to our benefactors sometime." He lowered his tone conspiratorially and they both chuckled.

Elaina found herself overly giggly. She cleared her throat, silently blamed the liquor, and spoke plainly. "So, I noticed you and Laura seem quite taken with each other."

The pretty, wealthy brunette had been in David's presence all evening since they'd met near the salad bar. Laura was the daughter of Michael Balm, a strategic Pharmaceutical businessman who'd been largely responsible for sponsoring the scientific and health fundraising gala.

It had been a successful turnout, an event that the esteemed Dr. David Banner had been socially obligated to attend. He whole-heartedly supported the event due to its promise to use any funding it accumulated to aid the research of curing and combating diseases. One in particular, the common, but deadly influenza, which had taken his mother's life when he was a boy.

Michael had proudly introduced his daughter to nearly everyone and had seemed happy that she and Dr. Banner became better-acquainted throughout the night.

"Yes, she's a lovely woman."

Elaina's expression fell slightly and David pretended to jab her with his elbow. "Hey, I couldn't help but notice you on Dr. Esben Hansen's arm all night," he countered with a wry smile, obviously making it clear that love – or at least attraction– seemed to be in the air for both of them.

"Oh, yes," Elaina cleared her throat. She'd finally managed to spill champagne on her aquamarine gown. Her cheeks flushed for more reasons than just being tipsy.

"Here," David handed her his hanky to wipe herself off. "And maybe you better let me take this." He took her glass from her hand. "Don't think I forgot that song and dance you performed back in college at the sorority mixer! I had to practically carry you back to your dorm."

"Ha! _Big Spender!_ You never let me live that down. But we enjoyed ourselves." Elaina grinned, but was grateful for the excuse to concentrate on cleaning her dress… Anything to avoid looking him in the eye. She couldn't tell him what she'd felt all evening. It'd hurt her in a way that she hadn't realized it would, when she had noticed how lovestruck David was with Laura, a woman he'd only known for a few hours. Elaina and David had known each other since they were teens and were as platonically close as male and female best friends could be. Somewhere along the way she desired more.

She wasn't sure why she had ended up latching onto Esben all evening. But figured later it was her way of giving David and Laura space. Esben had offered to get her a drink and introduce her to a few important faces around the room. If David wasn't going to make a move on her after all this time, she might as well move on.

"Elaina, can I ask you something?"

She finally looked up, after realizing she'd been staring down at her heels for a full minute.

"Yes, David?"

"Are you planning to see Dr. Hansen again?"

"Umm…I… I might?" Elaina stammered, unsure if their acquaintance had really gone that far. Esben would be returning soon after leaving to make an important phone call. Laura, apparently, was in the bathroom at present and that was the only reason Elaina felt comfortable approaching David at all.

"Why him?"

"Why not him? What's the problem?"

Tension hung in the air as Elaina thought, "_If you want to saddle up to Laura, I can certainly go out with whomever I choose."_

She felt like a jealous schoolgirl again. This wasn't the first time she vied for David's affections. Again, she blamed it on the champagne. Liquor always brought her unrequited emotions to the forefront, and she couldn't deny or suppress them, especially not to herself.

Thankfully, she wasn't drunk enough to shoot off her mouth or say any of it aloud.

David, on the other hand, was thinking something completely different as he remained oblivious to her feelings. "Dr. Hansen is a… renowned scientist with many achievements under his belt, and he makes plausible theories. But I find some of his ideas and practices questionable."

"So he's not exactly a boy scout. That doesn't make him a bad person, does it?" Her voice slurred.

David looked her straight in the eyes and grimaced. He seemed to have second thoughts about what he wanted to say next. Instead, he finally admonished, "Elaina, I know you could do much better than Esben."

Laura emerged from the restroom. She approached, raising an eyebrow at Elena, then ignored her and slipped her arm around David's waist. At her urging, she and David promptly excused themselves to go to a private, cozy area alone.

Elaina's gaze followed the lovebirds until they disappeared outside the banquet hall. She felt stung by David's words.

"_I know you could do much better than Esben."_

Her throat constricted. _David,_ she thought, _YOU are better… you're the best…_

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

**Present: 1982**

Overall, David's shift had gone by fairly quickly since he'd done a thorough cleaning the night before. He dawdled while thoroughly scrubbing toilets and mopping floors, and looked for time-consuming tasks, such as watering plants, to make the night go by faster.

It wasn't long before David once again found himself riding back to Tasha's house. They chatted lightly as she drove and David tried to get to know her a little better, he didn't want to cast her off as an evil person just because she assisted Hansen.

Tasha worked as an administrative assistant for scientists and with her varied knowledge she occasionally helped clean up confusing formulas and presented ideas for testing and lab work. She excelled as a lab assistant if not a scientist.

When they arrived at her house, she motioned David to come out slowly and shushed him as he came around the car.

"What is it?" David asked softly.

Tasha held up a hand. "I think Sarah's inside. Let me go in first, she's very wary of strangers."

David nodded, permitting her to take the lead. This was still Tasha's show, not to mention her house.

Maybe now he'd finally get to _meet _Sarah.

It was a few minutes before the door finally opened and David was summoned inside. He entered casually, trying not to alarm her.

"David, this is Sarah." Tasha introduced them, motioning David into the living room.

Sarah was a fair, petite young woman in her early twenties with short brown hair, and light brown eyes flecked unusually with gold. She wore a simple pair of sweatpants and T-shirt.

David recalled Tasha mentioning that Sarah had carried her and, presumably, all of the notebooks and papers that he had looked over. Considering the fact that Sarah was smaller and thinner than Tasha, David couldn't even imagine how that was possible. Then he remembered the wolf.

"Hi, Sarah," David greeted, tilting his head and smiling warmly. "I've looked forward to meeting you."

All he got in return, however, was an icy stare… but behind her glare, there was something more.

She was afraid. Perhaps of him, or what his presence could potentially mean. David knew that look, knowing it probably mirrored something in his own expression whenever he dealt with authority figures, or anyone who could potentially expose him.

"Sarah, David is here to help us," Tasha said to break the ice. "The least you could do is be polite."

Sarah still said nothing, and only eyed David warily.

David decided to speak. "Well, why don't I put on a pot of coffee? Then we can get better acquainted, hmm?" He rubbed his hands together as he spoke, then moved toward the kitchen.

"I don't drink coffee," Sarah muttered, before she promptly vanished into her bedroom, and shut the door with a loud snap.

"Go ahead and make that coffee, David, please." Tasha sighed, casting an apologetic glance. "There's some snacks in the fridge, I'll see if I can get her to come out."

"Okay."

Ten minutes later, David had the coffee served in three cups and vanilla wafers delicately placed on a ceramic plate. Tasha emerged from Sarah's room… without Sarah.

"Still a no show, huh?"

"Sit with me in here, David," Tasha urged from the kitchen.

"What happened?" David brought in the coffee and wafers and sat across from her.

Tasha sighed. "She won't come out."

"I see that. Why not?"

"Because she doesn't know you and she doesn't trust you. I tried to tell her that you're… well, a doctor, someone who might be able to help. It doesn't seem to make any difference right now."

"How much does she trust you?"

"As much as she can trust someone who injected her and cleaned her wounds and burns. But I still helped her escape torment and captivity in the end, so she's warmed up to me." Tasha said with another sigh. "Look," she took David's hand and patted it, "just give her some time. It may take her a while to get used to you."

"Perhaps. Though it'll be difficult for her to 'get used to me' if she stays locked in her bedroom."

"You don't know her like I do. Let me tell you, the fact that she's still in the house speaks volumes."

"Really?"

"Mmhmm," Tasha nodded. "One time when I had a visitor here briefly, she left and vanished into the forest for four days. Deep down, she knows you're here to help, especially because I vouched for you. But she needs time to get more familiar with you."

"Tasha, I can't make promises for how long I can stay. I may need to leave at a moment's notice. But I'll do what I can while I'm here."

"Fair enough," Tasha acknowledged, then her eyes narrowed. "Perhaps we could touch base on something, David?" She leaned toward him, lowering her voice. "Why do you want everyone to think you are dead? I mean, the reason must be extreme."

David looked uncomfortable. He didn't know Tasha well enough to share his deepest, personal secret with her freely… particularly since there were still unanswered questions about her and Esben he wasn't satisfied with.

He was spared from having to say a word.

"Look, if you'd rather not talk about that, it's alright with me." She sipped her coffee and smiled at him.

"Thank you. That's best for now."

"Help yourself to anything in the fridge, I'm going outside and have a smoke. I'll be back in a few minutes."

"Okay. Be careful."

**0o0o0o0o0o0**

**(Flashback 1972)**

"Elaina, just look at this!"

Elaina regarded Esben warily, her arms folded, as the man paced back and forth across the carpet with the temperment of an angry six-year-old. Rather than show her what angered him, he continued to rant and cuss until he finally read part of the Op-Ed article to her..

"_World renowned, award winning Geneticist, Dr. Esben Hansen, was promptly dismissed from the Culver Institute and discredited in the Scientific community. This decision was made based on a three-month long secret investigation led by his colleague, the equally renowned Biochemist and Gamma Scientist Dr. David Bruce Banner. Hansen's unethical, and ghoulish medical practices were discovered after he manipulated the National Register to write a piece about his collaboration with Dr. Banner on his breakthrough DNA research. That proved to be a lie and was retracted last month. Dr. Banner declined to comment further, but according to anonymous sources, Dr. Hansen was a modern-day Dr. Frankenstein, and attempted to create hybrid human and animal DNA while testing exclusively on human beings…"_

Esben dropped the paper and stamped on it. "How dare that filthy reporter write this about me! As if I haven't been humiliated enough!" he raged.

"I see," Elaina said, "so it was okay for you to use McGee to put pressure on David and the Board of Directors to agree to these experiments, but when the truth gets out you…

"Shut up, Elaina!"

Elaina was tired of his mercurial mood swings. "Grow up, Esben! I'm getting pretty damn tired of your temper tantrums when things don't go your way."

"There is nothing wrong with the way _I _do things! If only people would wake up and see the potential my experiments have! We can enhance our species, end sicknesses, slow down old age and prevent death in most cases! At the very least we could form a legion of superhuman soldiers to protect this country, this world even!"

"Your lofty goals are straight out of a comic book. You've crossed one line, so it isn't long before every line gets crossed." Elaina countered. "First it's creating interspecies DNA, but what then? Raise the dead? How far will you let it go?"

"Don't be ridiculous. My goals are feasible and they worked. And I'll go as far as it needs to!"

Elaina tossed her hands up. "I've spent the last two years hoping I could change your mind, but you just won't let it go!"

"I will never let it go, Elaina!" Esben got into her face, a throbbing vein in his forehead bulged purple, as if ready to pop. Elaina backed away and her hand reached for a cologne bottle, something to defend herself with if he dared hit her.

"You could have helped me on my experiments and kept Banner off my back. You could have also told me that he was gathering evidence for the Board!"

"I wasn't aware of what David was doing. He doesn't tell me everything like you think. I thought you might've had the decency to know it was wrong, and stop before it went too far," Elaina said defiantly. "It took me two years to get up the courage to date you, then you went to Europe for a year. I wanted to try again and you were receptive. I saw in you what others didn't. We had some good…no, great times, Es, but now…now, you're not the man I thought you were." Elaina lowered her eyes, defeated.

"You mean, I'm not a man like your precious _David_?" Esben's words dripped venom. "Why don't you go to him, and see if he'll take you in place of his _dearly departed_ Laura. I know you've started work with him on that silly human strength project. He's just as obsessed as I am. Elaina, he never loved you and never will. You'll be nothing but his sloppy seconds."

Elaina's fingers tightened around the cologne. She wanted to bash it on his smug face. She wouldn't let him see how hurt she felt from that remark, it stung worse than anything he'd ever shouted at her during their fights. She didn't even dignify him with a response. She turned on her heels and stormed out, slamming the door behind her.

Elaina never spoke to or saw Esben again.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

David regarded the steaming cups of coffee thoughtfully for a long moment, but otherwise ignored the beverages and treats he had placed on the small table.

He rose and moved over to a nearby shelf to peer at a few hardcover books when he caught a slight movement in his peripheral vision. He turned his head just to catch a glimpse of something moving quickly out of sight again, past the door frame into the kitchen area.

Sensing the presence was skittish yet apparently curious, David pretended that he saw nothing, turning his full attention back to the bookshelf. He ran a finger across the top shelf, noting how some dust had collected, and nonchalantly picked up a book and began to half-pretend to read.

Nearly a full minute passed. Just when he was about to give up and go sit on the couch where he could read more comfortably, he heard a creak of a floor board. He glanced in the direction of the sound.

"Hey, Sarah," he greeted, "you can still have some coffee and wafers if you'd like." He then looked back at the book, giving her a chance to decline or even leave the room. Patience was key in this situation.

She had the look of a deer caught in the headlights, agitated at having been seen when she didn't want to be. She backed up and turned to leave the room. However, she barely took two steps before she slowly turned to look at him again.

"Tasha said you might be able to help me."

David closed the book and turned to look at her. This was the first time he'd heard the girl speak. "Well, I might. But I can't very well help you if you stay in your room, can I?"

Sarah crossed her arms and leaned against the door frame, eyeing him warily. "Who are you?"

"I'm David Baxton."

She continued to stare at him, saying nothing.

David met her gaze levely. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

She looked away. "I'm trying to get used to your scent," she blurted. She winced, as though realizing how odd that sounded.

David had read in the notes that she had a heightened sense of smell, but chose to refrain from commenting. They were still getting acquainted, it wasn't the time to start mentioning things that might make her uncomfortable.

"Well, this is your home and I am merely a visitor. You can do whatever you need to in order to feel comfortable," David smiled.

Sarah seemed to relax somewhat, unfolding her arms and moving away from the door frame. "Is Tasha still outside?"

David nodded. "She's ah, taking a smoke."

"Yeah, she does that sometimes," Sarah said. "I can smell it from here. I'm glad she doesn't do it inside because I wouldn't like the smell in here."

"Is there any particular reason you came out of your room now, rather than while Tasha was still in the house?"

"I…" Sarah swallowed and licked her lips nervously. "I do better when I can speak with someone new individually. There are fewer distractions, less people talking, maybe even a bit more…" She motioned with her hand, trying to find a word. "Openness. Honesty."

"Were you expecting Tasha or I to be dishonest if both of us were in the room?"

Sarah scrunched up her face. "All I know is that whenever I have gone to large, family get-togethers or other public functions, everyone seemed more interested in talking to other people or talking over each other. One-on-one forces people to focus on just one."

"I suppose I can understand that, especially if you come from a big family."

"Just my parents and brother really, but it was something else when my aunts, uncles and cousins got together."

David nodded, smiling a little at the thought. For the most part, it had always been just him, his dad and his sister at home, particularly after his mother died. But he knew full well how larger gatherings could be, especially with older relatives who liked to hog the spotlight or were just difficult to get along with.

Sarah sighed. "Look, Tasha told me that you're a doctor or something, and you've read those papers that we brought from… from the lab." She shivered slightly, making it obvious that the mere mention of the place brought back bad memories. "So do you think you can do something or not?"

David eyed her sympathetically. "I'm not sure yet. It's not something where I can wave a magic wand over you and make it all better. Plus there is only so much information in those documents. The first thing I would need to do is examine you."

Sarah balked and took a step back, reacting almost as though he had threatened to grab her throat.

David realized they still had a ways to go before she would be comfortable letting him so much as touch her. "We don't need to do that tonight," he tried to assure her. "Look, why don't you come and have a seat? We can just talk and get to know each other a little better."

For a moment it looked as though she might bolt, but she didn't. She gritted her teeth and overcame the nervousness she felt, slowly sinking onto one end of the nearest couch.

David took a seat on the opposite couch, taking care not to get too close or startle her. "Have some coffee," he encouraged, "while it's still warm."

Neither of them said anything while she finally picked up one of the cups and permitted herself a couple of wafers. Any attempt at conversation quickly dissolved. David finally contented himself to sipping his coffee, watching her while she watched him.

He could tell she was still trying to get used to him, in her own way, and grow more comfortable with his… aura. Or, getting 'used to his scent', as she'd put it.

The companionable silence seemed enough, for the moment, particularly as Sarah's poise gradually shifted from stiff and straight to a more relaxed posture of leaning back against the cushions.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o**

Tasha did light up a cigarette outside, but she didn't smoke. She pretended to puff a few times, intentionally flicking ashes on the ground, then she matter-of-factly tossed it aside. She glanced over her shoulder briefly, then she walked briskly across the street to the nearby pay phone.

She inserted a quarter and dialed an all-too-familiar number, using her free hand to smooth her purple skirt. A breeze had picked up, reminding her that her attire was revealing enough to make her feel exposed to the elements.

"_Hello?"_ the voice on the other end inquired.

"Esben," she said, "I've got some news for you."

"_Don't you dare tell me she got away."_ Dr. Hansen's voice threatened.

"No, no, she's in her room right now. Esben, I also have Dr. David Banner in my house."

There was a pause. "_Dr. David Banner?"_ Esben grunted, shocked. "_Are you toying with me, Ms. Pines?"_

"No. It's him, he's confirmed it himself. I brought him here under the guise that maybe he can help Subject Seven. I just thought you might find this… interesting." Tasha let that hang in the air.

"_Yes,"_ Esben finally said, "_I do, particularly since Dr. Banner is supposed to be dead. Has he said anything on the matter?"_

"No. I did ask, but he didn't seem inclined to share his reasons and I didn't want to press for fear of scaring him off."

"_Very well… see what you can find out, and I will do some investigating on my end. Is there anything else?"_

"Not right now, no."

Esben hung up.

Tasha stared at the receiver in her hand for a long moment, then shook her head slightly and went back across the street to re-enter her house.

She was mildly surprised to find that Sarah had not only emerged from her room, but she was actually sitting in the living room with David.

"Oh, don't let me interrupt," Tasha encouraged with a smile as she shut the front door behind her. "Were you chatting?"

"I think we're just… getting used to each other's scent," David said with a wink toward Sarah, as if sharing in a private joke.

Sarah rolled her eyes, saying nothing.

The silence continued somewhat awkwardly, until Sarah mumbled something about being tired and wanting to sleep, once again disappearing into her bedroom. This time, though, she didn't snap the door shut.

"Did she talk to you at all while I was outside?" Tasha asked in a hushed tone.

"Well, she came out," David answered. "She then said something about wanting to get used to my presence and my scent. We said little else."

"It's a start," was all Tasha said.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

The next two days passed in a blur of David and Tasha going to work at their scheduled time and coming home to see whether or not Sarah would be there. The lattermost individual had the freedom to come and go as she pleased and, to her credit, she was there each night they returned.

She still wouldn't join them for any sort of beverages or snacks whenever Tasha tried to initiate a comfortable atmosphere for her to get better-acquainted with David. However, Tasha still seemed to persist that it was a good sign that Sarah was sticking around at all, even if Sarah spent much of her time holed up in her bedroom and only peered out once in a while.

On the morning of the third day, Sarah vanished. Tasha had already known that was coming.

David and Tasha chatted about it during the ride home after their work shifts ended. "So she's gone off on one of her… ah, hunting trips?" David still tried to wrap his mind around that, despite all the notes and papers he'd read about that subject, among many others. He had yet to see Sarah transform into a wolf, nor had he actually witnessed any of her behavior or activities while in the form of such a creature. He still couldn't quite fathom the idea that she could change at will and maintain a firm grip on her identity to regain control and self-awareness.

"She has to, especially since she won't eat with us," Tasha answered with a shrug. "But I think part of it is that she doesn't want to eat me out of house and home. For her high metabolic rate, she might require more food than I regularly keep on hand."

"Would it encourage her to stay inside more if both of us pooled our resources to get more food?"

"I doubt it. Part of her needs her freedom to run, to come and go as she pleases. That was denied to her for many weeks."

"Yes, but doesn't she run the risk of someone spotting her out there?"

Tasha sighed and flashed him an irritated look. "What am I supposed to do? Lock her in her bedroom? I have to maintain a sense of trust with her, David. If she is going to get better and if we are going to help her, we need to do some things on her terms, too."

"It seems to me like no-one has talked about what the terms actually _are_," David pointed out, a hint of frustration showing in his tone. "Tasha, I have been trying to speak to her, but she seems to persist on keeping a wall up between us."

"What do you suggest?"

"I was hoping that _you_ might have a suggestion. You seem to know her best, yet there are times when she barely even comes near you."

Tasha sighed again. "I don't know what to do with her either, David. I just want to help her, but it's almost like she's grown used to being part wolf, and… acting like one."

"Have you ever asked her what she wants from us?"

"Maybe that's something you should ask her, if you get the opportunity."

That sentiment hung in the air for a long moment. David began to realize that Tasha was more at a loss what to do than she had originally let on. It did seem that she came out here with her charge without much of a plan.

"Have you made any headway in finding a cure for her?"

Tasha shook her head. "There's only so much I can do at my job. I might be familiar with some of Dr. Hansen's work and I might be in possession of his research papers, but my knowledge is limited. Much of it might as well be Greek to me."

"Hm."

David decided he would try to talk to Sarah, whenever she returned from her latest hunting trip.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

**(Flashback 1977)**

It had been a month since the tragic accident that resulted in the death of Mrs. Laura Banner. Helen, David's sister, had finally coaxed him into seeing a professional about his nightmares and anxiety. He needed someone to talk to, particularly since he wouldn't open up to any of his friends or family.

Helen had done everything she could to help him. She temporarily moved into David's home. She helped him to clean and pack up Laura's belongings, and made sure her brother had some home-cooked, nutritious meals, since he'd been neglecting his diet and health.

Helen eventually had to return to Colorado and the farm she ran with their father. David only grew more withdrawn and would rarely initiate anything himself. She quit babying him, as she put it, and left him with a stern message to see a therapist. Laura had kept a fine, clean home, not a pigsty, and she would've been mortified to know that her Knight in shining armor even neglected to shower on a daily basis.

David had to start somewhere, Helen knew, at least with the Banners, that tough love was the only thing that worked.

Helen had been disappointed that their father hadn't bothered to visit during her stay, even though he had attended the funeral and kept quietly at a distance. But the rift between father and son would take a lot of time and effort to heal. Many of David and Laura's friends and colleagues had come to the funeral, to pay their respects and offer some support. Laura's father was devastated, she was his only princess, and in some ways he blamed David for her death.

What had really torn Helen up was the private news David disclosed to her the day after the funeral. He'd just found out and needed to talk to someone.

While giving his condolences, Laura's Physician mentioned in passing that Laura had been pregnant and she had intended to tell David during their trip together, but she had died before she could reveal the good news.

Laura's doctor hadn't meant any harm, he'd assumed that David already knew. The news, however, set David's depression back even further and made him more angry that he couldn't save her.

It didn't help matters that Journalist Jack McGee occasionally tried to get an interview with David or anyone close to him. To his credit, McGee refused to speak to Dr. Hansen again, even when Esben claimed to have an "inside scoop" about some scientific breakthroughs.

McGee was a very nosy and persistent man, but he didn't like being used or made a fool of.

Esben, on the other hand, ended up having a confrontation with Elaina Marks, something which Helen only heard about later when Elaina needed to vent.

Esben also was a man who didn't give up easily, although what fueled his motivation was very different from a pesky reporter. If anything, Esben turned downright neurotic, and obsessed with the idea of getting even with those who failed to support his theories and assist with his experiments.

What really alarmed both Elaina and Helen was when Esben made a thinly veiled threat, stating that if he ever found the opportunity, he would seek revenge on David personally for having him discredited and fired from the Institute.

They couldn't exactly go to the authorities, particularly since Esben did nothing to follow up on that threat in the short term. But they both kept an eye on David, until he was well enough to return to work.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

**(Present Day, 1982)**

Sarah was gone for two days.

When she finally did turn up, awaiting the return of Tasha and David by sitting in the living room once they returned home from work, David didn't waste any more time.

"Alright, Sarah, we need to have a talk." David sat down on the couch across from her, meeting her eyes directly. "I came here to try and help you, but I need to know you want my help. So far, you've barely spoken to me and it seems to me that you'd rather hide away in your room or go outside than let me near you."

Sarah tensed. She held his gaze, but said nothing.

Tasha frowned nearby, folding her arms in disapproval. It seemed that her preferred way to handle the situation was to let the young woman act however she pleased in the hopes it would gain trust. David, however, was through playing around. He had his own demons to face and it was time to be direct.

"Sarah, what is it that you want from us?" David pressed, gently but firmly. "Clearly you can leave any time you wish if that's what it is. Are you hoping for a cure? Is there something else?"

Sarah stood, though she made no move to leave the room. "I… I don't know," she mumbled.

David's expression and tone softened. "When you were held captive, they didn't want you to talk much, did they?" It was a hunch, but somehow he knew he was right.

She looked decidedly uncomfortable.

"_We_ are here now, not them. Not Hansen. And we care about you, Sarah. We want to hear what you're thinking and feeling."

Slowly, Sarah sank down onto the couch again.

"I don't know what I want anymore," she finally said as she wrung her hands. "I gave myself to Dr. Hansen's experiments because I had nothing left. I didn't even have a home, and he promised to give me anything I wanted or needed if I agreed to let him experiment on me. I didn't know it would end up like this."

David said nothing, but his gaze urged her to continue at her own pace. Tasha hovered just behind him, and stared quietly. She had little to say, considering she'd been part of the experimental crew.

"I feel like I've gotten used to being like this…_sort of_," Sarah went on, staring at her shoelaces. "But I just… I don't know what I want anymore. I'm scared of being found, of being hunted or worse. I have nothing to go back to even if I am cured."

"Sarah, tell me more about yourself," David encouraged. "What was your life like, before this happened to you?"

It was a long moment before Sarah spoke. "Well, I grew up in a rural, isolated area, in Utah. My family preferred it. I guess we were all introverted in our own way. It was just me, my older brother, and parents."

David smiled. "I've been known to be introverted myself. I think a lot of scientists are. Helps them think."

Sarah gave a wry shrug. "Well we weren't scientists by any stretch. We had a small farm with some chickens, a few goats and a pretty garden…" Sarah looked up dreamily. "I loved tending that garden with my mom. She was a busy nurse and planting and growing flowers helped her relax on weekends. My dad grew green beans, tomatoes, and squash for a time, and we made extra money from the local markets. It was a simple life, and I really…" Sarah gazed down at her sneakers again, tears welling in her eyes. "I really loved it. I'm sorry… I can't…"

David resisted the urge to pat her shoulder or similar comfort since the girl shied away from physical contact. "It's okay, Sarah. You don't have to tell me everything. I just wanted to see who the girl behind the wolf was…no, _is. _You're still you. The situations change, we grow and learn from our experiences but no matter what happens, don't lose yourself completely. Keep those fond memories. Trust me, Sarah, I know how to keep secrets and I'm also a private person."


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4 **

**(Flashback 1977)**

Ben Thomas yawned so hard his jaw cracked. He frowned and patted his face. He was working a double shift in Radiology, and currently pouring over some manuals for the new gamma ray equipment. It was vital to understand the machine thoroughly before allowing anyone else to use it.

He had just finished recalibrating the settings from 300,000 units to operate at its fullest capacity for testing. However, he knew he wouldn't be testing tonight; he was far too tired.

He intended to work on it first thing in the morning when he started his next 9:00AM shift. He stuck a piece of tape over the original label next to the primary activation switch. The scientists outside the Radiology department weren't allowed access until they'd been fully informed on its operation with a 3-day course set for later that week. But to be safe, he took a piece of paper and wrote "Out of Order" in giant letters. He put the note over the control board.

Ben left for the night, not realizing that someone had been watching and snuck into the lab when he left.

Tasha Pines, a fresh graduate from CalTech and newly minted intern at the Culver Institute, crept into the lab where the gamma ray machine was located. She knew what she needed to do, despite her hesitation and misgivings about the whole thing.

Once you broke a code of scientific integrity, there would be no turning back. But she worked under the renowned Dr. Esben Hansen, and she was the only eyes and ears he had at this point. Any science graduate would kill for that opportunity. Tasha had told him everything she discovered about Dr. David Banner's growing obsession with human strength and activities.

She had carefully observed Banner's excitement when he discovered a breakthrough about his own DNA in comparison to the subjects who'd exhibited superhuman strength during times of great stress. For the next week, she kept tabs on his follow-up observations.

At first, Esben had merely wanted her to observe David in case he discovered something that might aid in his own animal hybrid research apart from the Institute. The Gamma ray theory was fascinating. Now, however, Esben predicted what Banner's next move might be during the last phone call with Tasha, and he advised her what to do next.

The events panned out the way Esben wanted. Knowing Elaina's driven work ethic, he created a diversion in their lab so Elaina would be occupied trying to fix some big blunders for the next few hours. It kept her locked away in the Institute library and she couldn't interfere or be contacted.

Tasha very slowly crept over to the gamma ray machine. Her hands quivered as she debated what she was about to do. She straightened her shoulders. "_This is for science! This is to help the world!_" She thought naively as she ripped the "out of order" sign off, and shoved it in her purse. She would burn it at home.

She left the Institute for the night, hoping this wouldn't come back to haunt her somehow.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

Another full day and night had passed for Tasha, Sarah, and David.

They made plans to sneak Sarah into the lab so that David could give her a full examination, but then quickly decided against it. The risk of getting caught was too great, and Sarah nearly had a panic attack at the mere mention of going to a lab.

Knowing he would need to take things slow to continue gaining her trust and making her feel comfortable with his ministrations, David decided to examine her in the comfort of Tasha's home instead.

David would have preferred the use of a lab or even a doctor's office, if only to have access to proper equipment. He needed to take a blood sample from Sarah, and thoroughly examine it, but that would require far more time, with the risk of getting caught. He hoped sometime to do a thorough examination complete with a blood and urine test, and other analysis of small tissue samples if she would permit it.

For now he'd give her a basic physical. Tasha happily provided him with some medical equipment she had borrowed from one of the lab offices at work.

"Okay Sarah, David is going to examine you now," Tasha announced once she and David finished eating dinner.

Sarah immediately tensed. She had known this was coming since they had discussed it that morning. She'd hoped they would forget or simply choose not to follow through on it.

David regarded her for a moment, noting how her reaction reminded him of a child not wanting to go to the doctor. Or maybe in this case, a dog not wanting to go to the vet. At times, he still couldn't be certain if some of her childish and standoffish tendencies were due to her wolfism or not.

"Does this make you nervous?" David asked. At her nod he said, "Sarah, there's nothing here that can hurt you. I just want to give you a basic examination to understand how your body works. It's very important if we're going to find cures…a cure…for your condition." David caught himself. He had yet to reveal his own metamorphosis to Sarah and hoped he'd never have to.

David knew that the best way to overcome discomfort or fear was to face it head-on. The sooner she learned that, the better.

Sarah finally took a tentative seat on the couch, folding her hands in her lap. David picked up the black medical bag and took a few tools out of it, noting that Tasha stood nearby with her hands folded behind her back, observing quietly. It bothered David, knowing that this woman had played a part in Sarah's abuse. But he said nothing to start any trouble. Sarah glared at Tasha, who then averted her gaze. David glanced back and forth between them as he put the stethoscope in his ears.

"Sometimes I used to… stand back and observe back in Esben's lab," Tasha offered by way of explanation. She coughed. "Sarah, would you feel more comfortable if I… left the room?"

"Yes, I would." Judging from the growl and the way she folded her arms, Sarah would have liked it better if _both_ of them stepped out and forgot about this.

"I'll be back in a few minutes, David," Tasha said. She picked up a pack of cigarettes, then calmly left the house.

David leaned closer to Sarah and tried to interact with her gently. "Okay Sarah, I'm going to start by taking your pulse, alright?" He moved almost tentatively, then his fingers fell into place automatically, locating the veins in her wrist and on the side of her throat with ease.

To her credit she remained still, even if the expression on her face made it look like David was pressing a razor blade to her neck rather than his fingers. Her mouth twisted and her nose wrinkled at his close proximity, his scent filled her nostrils now that he lingered right in front of her.

He certainly didn't smell bad, but it was the presence of a person she barely knew, amplified by her canine-like senses. She relaxed slightly when he was finished taking her pulse, barely reacting as he listened to her heart, though she did stare at the tightening blood pressure cuff as though it might squeeze her to death.

David continued to interact with her, calmly explaining what he was doing as he did it, particularly if she seemed anxious, So far, he'd found that her heart rate, respiration, and pulse were like that of someone in peak physical condition who'd just finished running a marathon, yet she had been lounging around the house all evening. He figured, as Esben's notes stated, it was due to her heightened metabolism.

"Okay, I'd like to look inside your mouth and examine your throat. Could you open wide, please?"

Sarah abruptly got stubborn and kept her mouth closed tight.

"Is there something wrong?"

"I don't like people looking _inside_ me." She said bluntly.

Somehow, there seemed more to that than what she was saying outright. Had they done some internal bodily testing on her at Esben's lab?

"I just want a quick look at your throat and your teeth, that's all, like a regular Doctor checkup." David promised her. "I'm not going to touch, I'll be using this." He held up a common tongue compressor.

She hesitated a moment longer, but decided the sooner she cooperated, the sooner the annoying exam would be over. True to his word, all David did was compress her tongue slightly and briefly shined a small flashlight, he checked her teeth, gums, and the insides of her cheeks. Sarah was more than relieved when he was finished.

"One final thing, I'd like to take your temperature," David told her. At her withering look, he decided to go easy and initiate a compromise. "Here, you can put this under your tongue," he handed her a thermometer, "hold it with your mouth closed until I ask for it back." Once she had begrudgingly followed his directions, he turned away from her as he wiped down the tools and put them back into the medical bag.

By the time he'd finished that task, she had relaxed. He held out his hand, and she gave him the thermometer. He looked at the results quietly, then set it aside with no comment. He had already been aware that it would give an unusual readout since her skin had felt warm to the touch. Esben's notes had mentioned a standard high temperature reading. He hoped to examine her DNA and molecular structure on a deeper level, but this wasn't the place or the time.

In the end, even though he would probably need more time and testing equipment, he could already tell a lot of things about Sarah as a human being, that would not only fill a novel but that Esben himself hadn't noticed, or perhaps not bothered to document, in his own notes. He never cared much for his subject's comfort, and clearly thought little of their humanity.

Overall, the important thing was that Sarah was healthy in her own way, even if some of her biology appeared strange at first glance. Her temperature was 107.5, which fell in range for the average temperature of a wolf. She was petite, and thin, but her rapid metabolism and her internal system seemed robust enough to handle it without damaging her internal organs.

Her temperature, along with various other biological differences also meant that she could never go to a hospital or a private care physician if she developed any kind of medical issue. Her temperature alone would mark her as an unusual case study. The last thing she needed was to be placed in quarantine or put into another lab for testing.

David knew very well what could happen and held the same fear of his metamorphosis being discovered. He was very selective about which professionals he approached. He hadn't bothered to visit or call anyone in a few years, considering nearly every attempt failed, the only exception being his wife Carol, and she had passed away suddenly. Anyone who was willing to keep things hush-hush usually had shady dealings going on in their lives and he got dragged into it.

David sighed. He had a nagging feeling that this secretive business with Tasha would somehow explode on him next. But he pitied the young woman. For the time-being, David was all that Sarah had for any potential medical needs (though she didn't seem to require treatment at present) and maybe he was a slim hope for a cure.

If he couldn't cure himself for now, he could certainly try to remedy her condition. He decided to try his best and go over Esben's notes again.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

Neither of them knew that Tasha had once again gone across the street to the phone booth for a few minutes.

"Yeah," Tasha said once Esben answered her, "David Banner is examining her now. What I want to know is, how long are we going to keep this charade up?"

"_Until I say otherwise."_

Tasha pursed her lips in irritation. "You know what I want, but I still don't know what _you_ want."

"_Are you questioning me, Ms. Pines? You know what will happen if you defy me. Like it or not, I own you, as I have for a long time. Just do as I say and don't worry your pretty little head about anything else."_

Tasha pursed her lips, but remained silent.

"_So Banner has read my notes and research papers, and he is giving the girl a thorough examination. We'll see what he decides to do next."_

"Yes." Tasha still didn't know what Esben was thinking or planning. She was half-convinced that he had already flipped his lid a long time ago and whatever goals he had were no longer based in reality. But she had to do what he said, at least for now. "What about your… benefactor?"

She had to ask that at least. If the "interested parties" who had funded the entire underground operation became too unhappy and impatient, it could end badly for her and she could lose what she loved the most.

"_They are satisfied, for now. Subject Seven is the perfect specimen, the only one who turned out just right. The delicate balance between wolf and human worked out very well in her, and that makes her a prize. But we needed to trick her into thinking that she escaped to see how stable she is in the outside world and how she chooses to behave. She still sticks close to you because she has nothing else. Now, she may also stick close to David Banner."_

"What if David starts to get suspicious?"

"_Ah, I've got that covered too, dear lady. You see, I have been doing some investigating. David Banner and Elaina Marks perished in a laboratory explosion, which our dear Jack McGee reported was caused by a giant green creature… a creature which has been sighted many times, in many different areas throughout the country, ever since."_

Tasha blinked, then narrowed her eyes. "What are you getting at?"

"_Isn't it obvious?"_ Esben snapped impatiently. "_Our precious David Banner apparently wants the world to believe he's dead. Why?" _He let that hang in the air between them for a moment. "_The last sighting of the creature was reportedly about twenty miles south of your current location. Just think about that for a while."_

"I… need to get back to my post before they notice I'm away."

"_You do that."_ Esben hung up.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

"Where are you from, David?" Sarah asked.

David averted his gaze momentarily toward the cup of coffee in his hands. The steamy scent filled his nostrils as he pressed his fingers and palms around the ceramic. The beverage was on the low end of hot, allowing him to warm his hands a tad without burning them. "Oh, here and there. I've been on the move a lot."

"Oh." Sarah seemed content to accept that answer. "Tasha has been outside a long time. I wonder if she's smoking the entire pack."

David disapproved of that habit, but felt it wasn't his place to say anything. There were some situations where one simply had to respect that it was that person's choice and their body. Besides, it seemed the woman wasn't dying from lung cancer… yet.

Nevertheless, if she spent too much more time out there, he would go and check on her. Tonight simply wasn't fair-weathered enough to stay out there long, especially with little more than a light jacket. "Maybe she's trying to give you space," David pointed out. "You did make it clear to her you didn't want her indoors during the exam."

Sarah looked away. "I guess I am rude sometimes. But…" She trailed off.

"You haven't been around many people, have you?"

"No, especially not since I first went to Esben's lab. None of those people treated me like a friend or anything. They just wanted to _examine_ me all the time, or sometimes just watch me."

"Did Tasha treat you well, at least?"

Sarah shrugged dismissively. "Look," she redirected, "I told you a lot about me."

"Yes," David answered her. "Though I still haven't seen you transform."

David allowed that to hang between them for a long moment, giving her a meaningful glance as he waited to hear her response. He hoped that this wasn't too… forward. If he had the capacity to change at will, he certainly wouldn't like being asked, except perhaps under very few circumstances.

At first, the look she gave him could have turned the coffee in his hands to ice. But then her face gradually softened somewhat, especially after he gently added, "I'm not trying to make you uncomfortable, Sarah. You don't have to do anything for me if you don't want to. But I am curious, and it might help me help you in some way."

"I'd rather not," she stated somewhat stiffly, in a manner that suggested _I'm-not-a-freak-show-for-anyone's-viewing_ kind of way.

"Alright," David acknowledged respectfully, setting down his cup atop a ceramic saucer. "I'm going to see what's taking Tasha so long, she's been out there for almost twenty minutes," he said, already rising to do so.

Sarah nodded, saying nothing. Her eyes remained glued to his form as he moved, her expression softening a bit more. While she did not admit it aloud, in a way she had been gently testing him. The fact that he had respected her "no" to his request might have scored more points with her than he realized, particularly since Esben would never have asked politely.

She found herself thinking that if David did ask again… she might say yes next time. Especially if it could help him help her somehow…

Tasha came back inside just as David's fingers grasped the door knob. Sarah barely heard anything of their conversation as she once again slunk off to her room. She simply did not want to hear them discussing the results of her exam.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Another night and day had passed.

Tasha Pines had spent the last several minutes on the pay phone, having once again discarded the cigarette she had been pretending to smoke. She hated this ongoing charade, but she couldn't run the risk of David or Sarah overhearing her conversations with Esben, particularly since Sarah had fairly sensitive hearing.

Esben was very worked up today, apparently due to the fact that a few things weren't going quite right on his end. It seemed that most of the other human subjects-even if they were technically rejected and failed experiments-had been killed or recaptured after the "riot" that had allowed Tasha and Sarah to "escape".

A "riot" which Esben had initiated himself, discreetly, by deliberately goading one of the dumber werewolves into breaking out of a containment area that had been sabotaged to permit an easier escape.

It seemed that some of the werewolves, however, had vanished without a trace. Esben feared what might happen if news of this went public, for a variety of reasons. He certainly didn't want to anger his benefactor who required at least some secrecy, but it also wouldn't do him or the future of his projects any good if the public began to notice them.

Esben also seemed to have a problem with the fact that Sarah might have been warming up toward David a bit much for comfort. Tasha suspected that part of this was a phobia on Esben's part, considering he seemed to get over sensitive and paranoid whenever anyone seemed to favor David in any way.

Esben considered David a mortal enemy of sorts, especially at this point.

Tasha began to feel like she needed to tread very, very carefully now, because there was no telling what Esben might do in the height of his mental instability if he suspected (whether or not it was actually true) that Tasha might betray him to David in some fashion.

Besides… regardless of what the truth was, the truth sometimes didn't matter to a mind deeply immersed in madness.

"What do you want me to do?" Tasha finally asked, getting sick of hearing his rambles and rants.

"_I want you to begin to sabotage any friendship that might be forming between David and Subject Seven immediately,"_ Esben snapped. "_That, and get David to write down any of his observations and findings as soon as you can, if he hasn't done it already. I want whatever I can squeeze out of that brilliant mind of his before we terminate him forever."_

With that, Esben hung up.

Tasha slammed down the phone receiver. She inhaled deeply, taking a moment to collect herself, then headed back to the house.

She froze when she saw David standing just a little bit past the front steps, watching her as she came closer. She felt her throat constrict, knowing her guilt-ridden expression had displayed itself clearly across her face like Christmas tree lights in the dark.

David's expression, which had been moderate curiosity mixed with concern, now changed into suspicion. "Why were you using that phone booth, Tasha? You have a phone inside."

"I-it hasn't been working right," Tasha stammered, hating herself. Why was she finding it so difficult to lie to him? She owed him nothing.

David folded his arms. "It was working fine earlier this morning, when I used it to call an auto parts store about that fan belt I have been trying to help you replace." He let that hang in the air.

"Oh, well, you know, it's a flaky phone. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. I should probably work on getting it replaced, too." Tasha forced a chuckle.

"Mhm." David clearly didn't believe her. "Tasha, why don't you tell me what's going on? Is there something… private about the phone calls you are making…?"

"Yes, they are private," Tasha stated, avoiding his gaze.

"Any particular reason?"

"Look, I've been staying out of your business for the most part, Dr. Banner. I'd appreciate it if you'd stay out of my private affairs, unless I choose to share them with you." With that, she marched back into the house.

David watched her go back inside. Yes, she had a good point. But at the same time… something in his gut told him that he should remain alert.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

The following morning, David got up early to pick up the replacement fan belt for Tasha's car, which he promptly replaced for her. He felt he could do at least some things in exchange for living rent-free at the house.

Tasha later took the car and headed for work, alone today since it was David's day off.

Soon after she left, David took advantage of the opportunity to chat with Sarah in private when she joined him in the living room.

"Sarah, there is something I would like to ask you."

"Yeah?"

David licked his lips slightly. He didn't like the idea of accusing anyone of anything, but he had to gather more facts. "Were you aware that Tasha has apparently been making phone calls in the booth across the street?"

Sarah blinked, then shook her head with a confused scowl. "There's a phone right there!" she pointed.

"Yeah, I know," David nodded. "But I saw her coming out of the phone booth when I went outside last night."

Sarah blinked as she remembered something. "She looked kinda mad when she came in last night…"

"I asked her about it. She didn't seem to like that much."

Sarah wordlessly got up and walked over to the front door, stepping outside. She scrutinized the partially-used cigarettes on the ground, as though making a note that yes, Tasha had indeed gone outside to smoke, if that evidence could be trusted.

Sarah then sniffed the air and, after looking both ways, crossed the street. David followed her, unsure what she was doing but he did nothing to interfere.

Once they reached the phone booth, Sarah took a moment to sniff the air inside it. Satisfied with what her nose was telling her, she turned to face David again. "Yeah, I'm definitely picking up her scent. She's been in here several times, I can tell that much."

David understood what she was doing now. He said nothing, taking a moment to glance at the phone book and the phone receiver, but there wasn't anything to indicate who Tasha was calling or why.

After they both returned to the house, Sarah sank down onto the edge of the couch once again, crossing her arms and shaking her head. "I don't know," she finally said. "Maybe it's nothing."

"Maybe," David mused, though something still nagged at him inside.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

**(Flashback 1977)**

Esben Hansen and Tasha Pines attended the public funeral of Elaina Marks and David Banner. A casket for Elaina was present, allowing anyone who wanted to pay final respects to do so. David's burial spot was marked by a smaller tombstone because his body hadn't been recovered from the wreckage.

As the crowd waned, Esben and Tasha remained standing near the casket and tombstones for a long moment.

"It would seem he died after all," Esben murmured quietly to Tasha as he regarded the empty grave. "It would've been much simpler if the radiation overdose had killed him as I'd hoped."

Tasha shot him a look, her eyes darting around for anyone in earshot, but they were alone.

"How can you be so callous, Dr. Hansen? Here and now of all times and places?"

"He deserved it." Esben spat on the grave.

Tasha turned away and closed her eyes, suddenly wishing that the ground would swallow her up.

Esben, either oblivious to her dismay or merely ignoring it, faced Elaina's grave. "I never meant for this to happen to you," he said, stroking the casket. "If I am responsible in some way, please forgive me… but you sided with Banner against me in the end."

"Esben." Tasha placed a gentle hand on his arm. "You have to let this go. You have everything you need now to continue your work! Your new lab is being set up as we speak, and your benefactor is very pleased with your preliminary research."

"Yes," Esben said, yanking his hand off the cold casket and squaring his shoulders. "It is time to move forward, and I also need to ensure absolute loyalty from anyone who works for me from now on."

Tasha stepped back as he sneered at her.

"My dear," Esben went on, "I think we should go someplace private and discuss matters."

Tasha followed him, already knowing that she wasn't going to like whatever he had to say.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

**Present Day, 1982**

"What are you looking for?" David asked as Sarah poked round the room.

Sarah shot him a look as though he had pushed too much by asking that question. She wanted privacy.

"If you tell me what it is, maybe I could help you find it," David said with a slight shrug, prepared to leave her alone if that's what she really wanted.

She licked her lips nervously, then sighed. "I'm looking for a pair of scissors. I can't find mine in my room."

David looked in a nearby drawer and pulled out a sharp pair. "Will these do?"

"Yes, thank you." Sarah took the scissors and ran her fingers through her hair as she regarded herself in a nearby mirror.

"Are you thinking about giving yourself a haircut?" David asked.

"Just a trim, at least."

"Your hair looks fine the way it is," David offered. Indeed, it even seemed somewhat on the short side for a young woman. Even if she could have it at any length she wanted. it barely came down past her ears.

She looked at him then shrugged and set down the scissors. "Sometimes my hair grows fast. I have to keep it short."

"Any particular reason? Or just fashion?" David smiled briefly, but sensed it was related to her wolfism. This wasn't something Esben bothered to write in his notes. He didn't bother to fuss with the grooming habits of his experimental victims.

"Because the longer my hair is, the longer my fur is when I transform. I had shoulder-length hair, but as a wolf my fur was long and shaggy. It tangled easily, and got caught on branches and twigs in the woods, and it got so dirty."

Sarah frowned at her reflection. "It's not too bad if I don't let it grow out much past my ears, but otherwise it's a nightmare to deal with."

David considered what she said with renewed interest. He could only theorize that the hair on her head was a focal point that influenced the length of her wolf fur, and not other body hair.

She put down the scissors and didn't seem interested in discussing the matter further, but decided against trimming her hair for now.

"I'm gonna grab some lunch, would you like something?" David offered. After she shook her head, he went and helped himself from the fridge.

After David ate a tuna sandwich and a glass of orange juice, Sarah approached timidly, and gave him a surprising invitation. "David, would you like to join me in the forest?"

Judging from what little he'd observed of her behavior and tendencies, combined with the way she looked and sounded just then, made him feel he was being granted a sort of honor. She offered him a chance to join her on an activity she considered very independent and private.

The edge of the forest was approximately five miles away, though the distance was barely noticeable due to the scenic view. David's years of traveling on foot had given him an endurance to handle the hike and Sarah didn't even break out a sweat as she led the way.

When they finally entered the woods, the spacing of the trees gradually thickened. There was still enough space for humans or large animals to navigate.

David noted that Sarah was relatively at peace out here, and the forest appealed to her. Being in a house in the city was now out of her element. The wolf instincts were now deeply ingrained into her psyche.

"So." Sarah didn't look at David, and paced in a slow and aimless manner. "Um… you asked me the other day if you could…" Her voice caught in her throat. "If you could see me transform."

David regarded her with mild surprise. Was she offering? He had gained her trust.

She faced him and they exchanged serious gazes. A subconscious understanding passed between them. Sarah sensed a different, almost inhuman essence through David's deep stare and it unnerved and fascinated her, but it could've just been her mind playing tricks because she was nervous.

Being a gentleman, David turned around as she undressed and folded her clothes neatly atop a nearby fallen tree. He peeked just in time to see the actual transformation. Sarah's pale skin rippled and sprouted silvery white fur, her small muscles expanded and thickened as her body and limbs elongated unnaturally. David's mouth dropped in amazement. There seemed to be little to no pain involved. Her small face contorted and David suddenly felt scared as her features reached an "uncanny valley" point halfway, but he was unable to move. The tip of her nose darkened and reformed into a long wolf snout. Her ears closed in, allowing the wolf ears to spring up on top of her silver head. Her eyes glittered like yellow suns.

Sarah stretched a final time to ease into the change and thrust her hands into the dirt as her fingers grew with long claws.

David gasped and let out the breath he'd held for nearly the entire scene. What now stood before him was a large female wolf, approximately nine feet long. What made it remarkable was knowing that this wasn't just a beast… there was a human inside, one he'd somewhat befriended.

The self-control and perception Sarah displayed was remarkable. He needed to know if it were natural or learned

"Incredible." David breathed.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

They returned to the house just before the sun set. When they arrived, Tasha was already home waiting anxiously for them.

"Where were the two of you?" she wanted to know.

Sarah raised her chin, though she said nothing. The way she placed a hand on her hip suggested she didn't like the question that much. Wasn't she free to come and go as she pleased? Did she really deserve such a reaction?

Tasha seemed to back off a little under her scowl, though David quickly offered, "We went off into the woods for a few hours. I should have remembered to leave a note, I'm sorry.

"What were you doing out there?"

"What's it to you?" There was almost a slight growl in Sarah's voice. "You can make phone calls outside without telling anybody what you're doing or who you're calling. That means we can go roam around in the woods for a while without telling you."

A silence lingered between them.

"Alright, so I make phone calls out in the phone booth across the street." Tasha's eyes and tone betrayed some nervousness. "Popping a quarter into a pay phone is cheaper when it comes to long-distance calls. I like to talk to my sister once in a while, and I like having some privacy."

"Oh I get it, you feel like you have to stay away from the werewolf freak's ears to have any kind of normal chat with your family?" Sarah seemed a bit hurt and offended, apparently perceiving this a rejection. "You could have just asked me to leave or something for a while if you wanted to use your damn phone, I'm good at that. Or are you afraid of making me mad or something if you told me you'd rather use the phone out there?"

"Sarah, take it easy." David held up a hand. He didn't quite like the fire that was lighting up in her eyes and he knew that, according to the notes he'd read, increased emotion could sometimes trigger an unstable transformation that could be… dangerous.

"Sarah, I just need to talk to family sometimes," Tasha said in a more level tone. "I have been trying my best to make you feel comfortable here."

"So you thought you had to go outside to talk to your sister, without mentioning anything, because you thought I'd be too sensitive to hear you don't like my sensitive hearing." Sarah began to march off toward her room. "Fine, don't be honest with the freak. Just do whatever you want." She entered her room and slammed the door shut behind her.

David and Tasha exchanged a glance.

Tasha mouthed something and quietly motioned David to join her outside. David hesitated very briefly, casting a glance toward Sarah's bedroom door, then followed her out.

David sighed softly, feeling that the entire situation could have been handled better. But Sarah's condition was still potentially unstable, plus… although he felt like he was making some genuine headway, they still hadn't known each other very long and he didn't know much about her emotional stability.

"Tasha," David chose his words carefully, "are you afraid of her?"

She said nothing. She wouldn't look at him, so he couldn't read her expression.

David took a tentative step closer to her. "You helped her escape from Dr. Hansen. She needs to feel that those around her can accept her for what she is now, especially if she's still adjusting to life out in the world."

Tasha hung her head just a little. "Yeah, I know."

"You okay?"

"Yeah, I think I would just like to be alone for a few minutes. I need to think."

"Alright."

After David went back inside, Tasha found herself alone with the privacy of her own thoughts… which was not a pleasant place to be right now, either.

For manipulation purposes, it was a good thing that David and Sarah only seemed to suspect that she was guilty of prejudice and fear. That might lower their opinion of her for the time-being, especially Sarah's, but it would also be repairable if managed correctly.

Tasha knew that pretty soon, though, if she was going to prevent David and Sarah from getting too chummy… she might have to up the ante and play a little dirty. In order to keep Esben happy, Tasha knew she would soon have to stoop to his level again.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

Dylan Hunter had his orders, and he'd been trained to follow orders as much as he would have preferred them to be otherwise. If it were up to him, he would have already slaughtered the female monster and taken her pelt back to Esben as proof.

Hunter was being paid triple his original asking price to stay within a general range of the She-Wolf and keep out of sight. The next plan of action was her eventual capture and safe return to Esben. That's where the job would get tricky.

According to his last check-in with the eccentric scientist, Esben was pleased by Tasha's reports. Hunter wasn't certain what Esben hoped to gain by allowing his quarry the illusion of freedom. Evidently, there were new things to learn from the She-Wolf that couldn't be observed while she was in captivity.

Hunter found that even he could learn a thing or two while tracking and monitoring Subject Seven. She was friendly enough to remain close to Tasha, the one scientist who'd not only saved her but offered her sanctuary. Sarah also didn't seem inclined to hurt or eat people. Unless Seven decided to bolt for any reason, there was a consistent ten-to-fifteen mile radius she operated within.

The only thing he had to do for now was watch her from afar, and be extremely careful not to allow his scent to be picked up too often, or at all. Thankfully, Esben had given him a spray-on solution he'd concocted. Hunter applied it to every inch of his skin after he showered in his motel room. It masked one's natural scent to even the most sensitive animal nose.

As long as Esben continued to give him these supplies and pay for his motels and a few meals, the job remained a breeze.

Hunter had a feeling deep that he'd be ordered to move soon. Esben had sounded particularly anxious during their morning phone check-in.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o**

Tasha's heels caused a floor board to creak as she re-entered the house, having just finished another phone chat with Esben. It would seem that he intended to have their skilled hunter move in soon.

Tasha's current job was to sow seeds of doubt, to get Subject Seven to lose trust in David, possibly to the point where if Tasha said they needed to leave to leave the house quickly, Sarah wouldn't argue.

Then Tasha could lead her into an ambush and, ideally, have the She-Wolf subdued.

The only problem right now was the tension that currently existed between Sarah and Tasha, ever since the argument regarding the phone calls…

An argument which threatened to continue once Tasha went back inside.

"Making another phone call, hm?"

Sarah stood in the center of the living room, her arms folded.

Tasha didn't even bother to deny it. She had even stopped lighting cigarettes outside, giving up the charade that she was smoking in the first place. "David's not back yet?"

"No, far as I know he's still at the store. Don't change the subject."

"Sarah." Tasha touched the young woman's arm, "there is something I need to tell you, while David is away."

Sarah had tensed slightly, but permitted the touch. "Tell me what?"

"There is a reason I've been making private phone calls across the street. I have been investigating David." Tasha did her best to maintain eye contact, to put on her best act and appear very serious. She needed Sarah to believe her now. "Did you know that he is responsible for some of the research that Dr. Hansen used to change you and the others into a werewolf?"

Sarah's eyes narrowed. "What? That's not possible!"

Tasha stooped low in front of one of the couches and reached deeply underneath. She extracted a folder which had collected a coat of dust, but that was probably due to how utterly filthy it was under there. "I think you need to see this."

Sarah's eyes widened after she took it and began to flip through it. The folder contained not only a picture of a man named "Doctor David Banner", someone who could have been their friend's twin brother if not him, but it also contained an article written a long time ago by Jack McGee stating that Dr. Esben had revealed to the press that Dr. Banner had agreed to work with him.

"When I looked through Dr. Hansen's files more," Tasha went on as the young woman took this in, "I did find references to Dr. Banner's work and research results."

Sarah threw the folder down on the coffee table. "If you knew this, why didn't you say something? Why did you bring him here and let him stay?"

"I really thought he might help us," Tasha answered. "I recognized him, and I really thought he might help undo what has been done to you." She then reached into a box beside the couch. "I let him look at some of Dr. Hansen's papers, the ones I took when we escaped the lab. But did you know he's also been taking a lot of notes about you, especially ever since he examined you?" She indicated the fresh notes that were in David's handwriting.

Tasha took great care not to look at Sarah directly while showing her those notes. She felt her throat constrict momentarily with guilt. After all, it had been Tasha herself who strongly encouraged David to write down his own observations and add them to the collection.

David, having sensed no ulterior motive, had written down at least some things.

"Why's he doing this?" Sarah asked, looking visibly upset. "I trusted him."

"He might still be working with Esben for all we know."

Unfortunately, that was the moment David returned. He had the keyring in his mouth as he balanced a brown paper bag in each arm, using his elbow to shut the door behind him.

"Is something wrong?" He'd balanced one bag on his knee to get the keyring out of his mouth, noting the way they were staring at him.

Tasha had a look of a small child who got caught with her hand in the cookie jar. Sarah didn't notice, however, since her back was turned to the other woman and she had taken a couple of menacing steps toward David, without getting too close.

"Don't play innocent. You helped Dr. Hansen make me into what I am now, didn't you? " A feral sound escaped Sarah's throat.

David set the bags down quickly on an end table and faced her directly. "What are you talking about, Sarah? Where did you get that idea?"

The female mutant matter-of-factly picked up the folder she had just read and matched closer, slapping it against his chest. David took a moment to glance through it, then his eyes darted suspiciously in Tasha's direction, who looked like she would love to have any excuse to flee the room or have the floor open up and swallow her.

"Sarah, where did you get this?" David recognized the article, even if it had been several years since he'd seen it. Even after so much time had passed, it still raised a small amount of ire within him.

"It's been here all along, right here in the same room with Esben Hansen's papers. And your papers, Tasha showed me you've been making your own notes to add to the collection!"

"I don't know how a copy of this article got here," David stated firmly. "Tasha-?"

The only sound that Tasha made was a scream, however, when Sarah morphed so suddenly that her clothes split into shreds. Skin stretched and rippled into fur, muscles swelled and became thicker, bones creaked shrilly as they strained and reformed into a different skeletal structure and a large, bushy tail sprouted almost plant-like from her tailbone.

The next thing any of them knew, David's eyes had turned pale white just at the same moment that Sarah's teeth sank into his thigh. Then it was the She-Wolf's turn to go bug-eyed and take a take a step back, when she heard an inhuman grunt and began to see skin turning green and muscles bulging right through David's shirt and pants…

Within moments, a giant green creature stood in the place of where David had been, a being who was obviously quite peeved. He grabbed ahold of the scraps that remained of his shirt and threw it aside, as though getting rid of an irritant.

Tasha had pressed herself into a corner, her eyes wide and her hands pressed tightly over her own mouth. Her skin had paled and she could only watch helplessly, though neither of the supernatural beings paid her any attention.

The silver-white She-Wolf had backed up so quickly that she stumbled over one of the couches, tearing up half of its upholstery as she did so. The Hulk roared thunderously and tossed the other couch across the room to smash into Tasha's bedroom door.

The Hulk then grabbed a tall floor lamp and flung it at the wolf, who caught it easily between her talons and snapped it in half with her teeth, allowing the pieces to clatter on the floor.

The werewolf's mouth opened wide to reveal huge, threatening fangs as her golden eyes tightened. A moment passed, and somehow the tension lifted as her stance changed. Both she and the green creature regarded one-another with a sort of mutual curiosity.

The green creature still bared his teeth, his hands clenched at his sides, but he seemed to ease up when the wolf shut her mouth and stopped baring her fangs.

Finally, the wolf made a beeline toward her own room. Tasha barely caught a glimpse of the female mutant shimmering back down into human form just long enough to slip back inside and shut the door.

The green creature, on the other hand, decided to make a run for it. He smashed through the front door, sending glass shards and wooden splinters everywhere. Then he began to run in an apparently random direction.

Tasha waited a full minute until her muscles decided to unfreeze and her heart moved from her throat and back into her chest where it belonged. She stepped over the broken lamp, taking care to avoid the partially shredded couch that the wolf had toppled, then peeked into Sarah's room.

The bedroom was empty. However, the window next to the bed was wide open, the curtains moving gently in the breeze.

Tasha drew in a deep breath and reached for her phone. At least in this case, it should probably be safe enough to call Esben in the comfort of her own home…


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Dylan Hunter was setting up to clean his favorite shotgun when the phone rang. Normally he was a pro and completed this task quickly, but Hunter was instructed to wear a special pair of butyl rubber and leather gloves Esben designed for whenever he handled the weapon for use on werewolves.

Dylan rolled his eyes. "Can't damage the loony's precious toys with our dirty fingerprints now can we?" He said snidely.

When he opened the gun case he immediately saw why and stood back. He could almost taste the metal on his tongue and his body tingled. "Loony, but a genius." He cracked a smirk.

Always the daring sort, Hunter drew his fingertips gently over the bullet casings but quickly drew them back as if someone had lit each finger aflame.

"I didn't think they were _that_ effective." Hunter muttered and snapped on the gloves. "That loony thinks of everything."

With the gloves on, the weird sensations stopped and he loaded the gun chamber.

Esben had told him to move out in the morning. The situation had escalated. They now had two mutants of immense power to deal with, and there was no telling what either of them were capable of, especially since they joined forces.

Hunter's instructions were to wait in a thicket he'd scouted just inside the woods. He was prepared to ambush the She-Wolf around sunrise if Tasha succeeded in bringing her there. If no one showed up, Dylan would take it as a sign that Tasha had lost whatever control and influence she had over the female mutant, and he'd get to perform his favorite pastime. _Hunting._

Hunter was also informed to shoot to kill the green creature if he happened to spot it.

Hunter dug through his inventory, making sure he had his equipment on hand even though he'd already checked it three times before leaving the home base. If he was going to take a werewolf alive and possibly kill a Jolly Green Giant Mutant, he needed to be prepared.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

Approximately forty-five minutes later, David returned to the house. He assessed the damage even as he pulled on a fresh pair of pants and a shirt.

At first it seemed like no-one was home, but Tasha came back inside just as he finished fastening his belt.

"My God, David," Tasha gasped, though she didn't get too close. "I saw it. I saw you turn into that thing."

David eyed her for a moment, until he was satisfied that she was unharmed. "Where is Sarah?"

"I don't know. She ran off just before you did."

David sighed as he looked around the living room. It would take at least an hour to clean everything up, let alone begin to repair the damage. He frowned, trying to focus on the last thing he remembered before turning into the creature.

"Tasha," he said carefully, "Sarah seemed convinced that I helped Dr. Hansen make her into a werewolf. It made her angry enough to attack me. Do you know how she got a copy of that article?"

"David, the important thing right now is finding her."

David noticed she avoided his gaze. "Tasha, what the hell is going on here?" Something inside of her seemed to crack and he pressed further. "Tasha, I need to know what's happening. _Did you_ show Sarah that article?" He let his accusation hang for a beat. "Are you still working for Dr. Hansen?"

"Yes!" Tasha finally blurted. "I'm still working for Dr. Hansen."

A tense silence filled the air as they finally looked at each other. David's angry glare softened when he saw Tasha tremble in fear.

"Why don't you start from the beginning?" David said. "Tell me what happened, and let's have the whole truth this time." He folded his arms.

Tasha let out a heavy sigh, then spared no details telling him everything.

"So you're saying the wolf riot was instigated deliberately, by Esben."

"Yes."

David sighed and ran a wary hand through his short curly hair. "Why this charade, Tasha? Why let Sarah think she's free if you're still reporting back to him?"

"Because Esben wanted to gauge how Sarah would behave with perceived freedom in comparison to her behavior in captivity under relentless observation."

"Ah. Did he get the results he wanted?" David's eyes narrowed.

"Perhaps," Tasha shrugged.

"Why did you show her that article? You know full well that it was based on falsehoods."

"Because Esben told me to make Sarah distrust you."

"Why?"

Silence.

"Tasha, why are you doing any of this? You know it's terribly wrong and I believed you when you said you wanted out, that you wanted to do the right thing. Why do you-"

"Esben has my _son,_ David!"

David's words hung in the air. "What?"

Tasha was on the verge of genuine tears. "I gave birth to my son two weeks after I graduated from college. My ex-boyfriend wanted nothing to do with me or the child once he found out I was pregnant. What's more, he got arrested for dealing illegal drugs on campus."

Her voice cracked with emotion, forcing her to briefly pause and compose herself. "Esben took me under his wing. I mean, he took care of both of us and told me I would always have a job with him as long as I did whatever he said. I didn't know that would mean he would take my own child away from me. I don't even get to see him anymore, David! I don't even know where Esben's keeping him."

David drew a long, slow breath and let it out slowly. "Let me guess. If you don't do exactly what Esben wants, he's threatened to harm your son?"

"Yes."

"Alright." David licked his lips, trying to think of the next course of action. Indeed, everything was a mess and whatever trust he'd built was Sarah was likely shattered. "For now, let's allow Esben to think that I know nothing and that he still has you under his thumb."

"To what end, David?" Tasha's tears streamed freely. "I am so sick of this. I just want my son back!"

"I know." David put his arms around her and drew her close, giving her a small pat on the back as she cried into his shoulder.

"David," Tasha suddenly pulled back a little, looking at him with alarm. "You were bitten."

"I know."

"That means you have some of the venom inside you. What if you become a werewolf, too?"

David frowned, focusing on the way his body currently felt. That fear, coupled with his adrenaline soaring from fear of the large wolf, had been why he'd gone through the metamorphosis in the first place. He distinctly remembered a stinging, burning sensation entering his veins upon being bitten.

But now he felt nothing. He felt normal.

"According to Esben's notes," David said, "anyone who was infected with venom would quickly experience various flu-like symptoms that either succeeded in turning them into a werewolf, or killed them."

Tasha touched his forehead, then shook her head in disbelief as she lowered her hand. "Then you should be burning up by now. You're cool as a cucumber."

"I should also be experiencing muscle pains, dry cough, aching lungs…." David said. "My… My transformation into the creature has an instant healing factor, Tasha, including poisons and deadly diseases when my metabolism increases."

"That's….incredible," Tasha whispered.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

Sarah's emotions jumbled as she roamed aimlessly in wolf form. Her original impulse was to return to the forest, but to what end?

She couldn't get the image of David's transformation out of her mind. Just what _was_ he? Not an animal of any kind. What made that happen? How did it happen? Was this possession of some kind?

She felt incredibly guilty not controlling her own impulses. Had she sunk so low that her only reaction was to attack another living human, regardless of what he'd done? Was that how she really wanted to behave in the future?

Maybe it was a sign she had been a bit out of touch with humanity for too long, separated from her own species to the point where she reacted on feral impulses. The fact remained, that for the first time, she had bitten a living human. This wasn't like hunting wild game for food.

What kind of monster had _she_ become?

She needed answers, and to at least see if she had harmed him in any lasting way. If she had, she would need to seek some sort of atonement for her actions?

Having the ability to move swiftly in wolf form, she found herself back at the house quickly to see that the front door had been smashed from the inside out. That was definitely damage that she herself had not done.

She shifted back into her petite human form, which allowed her to creep more slowly and quietly without notice (though any passerby would get a free peep show of her nudity, people rarely came down this street this late) and she used her sensitive hearing to focus on what was being said inside.

Tasha and David were in there talking.

"So it looks like your own metamorphosis saved you from the werewolf venom?"

"Yeah, it would seem that way."

Sarah felt a mixture of relief and bafflement, but continued to listen in.

"David, I saw something interesting in your observations from the other day. You started to make a baseline comparison between the changes in body chemistry, neural activity and molecular density of the tissues and bone structures that Esben had observed in a werewolf, with your own metamorphosis."

"Well, it's all theoretical, especially since I've never been able to study my own…problem…quite so intricately."

"Are you saying that you hope to use the werewolf research to help your own?"

"Perhaps. If I can."

Sarah felt her heart sink as a fresh surge of raw anger flowed. So that was it, then? Not only had Esben and David apparently pooled their knowledge and discoveries, but now that David had some kind of affliction of his own that he wanted gone.

David was just like Esben, using whatever was at his disposal to meet his own ends. To think that she had allowed him to examine her, to touch her, and she had even willingly transformed in front of him like a circus animal…

She turned back into a wolf and took off to the forest.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

"Did you hear something?" Tasha asked, suddenly alarmed.

David looked outside and stepped past the broken door. He was just about to dismiss the noise when he saw a rapid-moving, streak of white fur. "Hey!" he yelled, but he knew it was already too late. There was no way to catch up with such a swift werewolf.

"You saw her?" He hadn't noticed Tasha step up behind him.

"Yeah, I think so… Look, Tasha," David turned to face her, "do you know where she might go?"

Tasha shrugged. "The only place I can think of is the forest. What are you planning to do, David?"

"We need to get her someplace safe before Esben can get her."

"What about my son?"

David stopped. He wasn't entirely sure what to do about that yet.

"Do you know what Esben's next move is going to be?"

"Yes, I was supposed to convince Sarah to join me after getting her to distrust you. I was to lead her into an ambush at sunrise to have her brought back to Texas."

David cringed with how easily she said those words. Even if her son weren't in danger, Tasha Pines could be a cold woman who only looked out for number one.

"Alright, then, how many people were you supposed to meet in this…_ambush_?"

"Just one. He is a professional game hunter, and once served as an assassin somewhere overseas."

David couldn't believe how fast events turned. Assassins were the last thing they needed on their tail. "Do you think he would believe it if you gave him a bogus location to find Sarah?"

"I'm… I'm not sure. I don't know him or his methods. Maybe. But David," Tasha warned, "We need to proceed carefully. Now that Esben knows you're involved, he'll want you dead."

David's mouth pressed into a grim line. That confirmed that he could not join Tasha when she met with the hunter. The risk would be great no matter what, but as long as Esben believed Tasha was still loyal, it could still work to their advantage. "Alright, Tasha. Do whatever you can to convince the hunter to go somewhere else, and then ditch him and get somewhere safe."

"I'll try my best, but David,… what about my son?"

"I have an idea…" He wasn't even sure if it was a good idea. But it was better than nothing.

"What is it? Tell me, David, please!"

"Look, if you can keep the hunter occupied, and Esben remains convinced that you are still doing whatever you can to recapture Sarah, he shouldn't hurt your son. In the meantime, I'll try to find Sarah first and get her to see reason, that all of this has been one big misunderstanding. After that…"

"After that, what?" Tasha snapped impatiently.

David frowned. "Perhaps we could work together and try to find out where your son is. Sarah has a keen sense of smell, right?"

"Yes, she does. Very keen."

"Do you have anything around here with your son's scent on it? Even if it's faint?"

Tasha pulled a tote bag out from the closet. "I kept a couple of his favorite toys in here."

"Perfect." David took the bag without opening it or looking inside. The boy's scent, if it was still strong enough, needed to remain unmixed with his. "Go meet up with the hunter and lead him on a convincing chase. Make him believe that Sarah got away. After that, return to Texas with him. I'll try and meet you there… with Sarah, and hopefully your son."

Tasha used a gas station map to mark the general location of the secret, underground lab. Indeed, it was fairly remote.

Without any other plans, and knowing that sunrise would be in just a few hours, Tasha gave David a final hug, clinging to him as though trying to draw a little bit of strength, then the two uncoupled.

"Be very careful now," David sternly told her.

"You too," Tasha replied with equal seriousness.

Just as they were about to part company, however, Tasha stopped him in his tracks. "David, please wait."

"Yes?" His eyes narrowed as he faced her. She had more to get off her chest.

Tasha gulped. This wasn't going to sound good. "Before you go...I…I…err… " She coughed, cleared her throat, and tried again. "David, there's something I really need to tell you before you go, just in case I don't see you again."

"What is it?"

She tried to force her gaze away from her shoes, to look at him directly, but couldn't muster up the courage to look him in the eye.

"David… Esben tried to kill you once already, and I helped him."

"What do you mean?" David blinked. He couldn't recall anything like that to his knowledge.

"Esben knew how devastated you were after Laura died. I spied on you for him, I told him about all the experiments with human strength you conducted and he knew you'd probably be in a hurry to try using that gamma ray machine on yourself." Tasha half-turned away.

He took a step forward. "Tasha, what are you saying?"

David could only put his hand over his mouth as she blurted out the truth, "I made sure anything that indicated the machine had been recalibrated or modified was removed. The Tech had left a big sign it was out of order. You thought you'd only receive 300,000 units of gamma radiation…I did it as per Esben's orders."

"You did…_you _did that?"

Tasha could only nod.

"Knowing full well it could potentially kill me sooner or later with radiation poisoning?" There was a roughness in David's voice now.

The air seemed to have shifted around them. The weight of Tasha's confession simultaneously lifted from her shoulders, but weighed her down again immediately as David's accusatory stare cut into her.

David felt hot reams of anger overtake him, it took all his willpower and training to stop the Hulk from bursting out and throttling her. The satisfaction of imagining the creature tossing her body as far as he could frightened him. The thought filtered out quickly. This wasn't hate. It felt like his body went into shock. He closed his eyes briefly to shove the Hulk back into his cage. The quaking in his sinews decreased as he calmed down. He heard Tasha gasp when he stared at her once more.

"David! Your…your eyes!…please, please, I'm sorry! I was a stupid and naive college student. I thought we were saving the world and you were getting in the way of that! Please believe me!"

Tasha shielded her body, expecting the green creature to lunge at her. When he made no move she lowered her arms. David's face was stony, but fully human. The anger and hurt remained.

"I might have known, Tasha. Considering what you were willing to do to live…human…test subjects." David spat out. "They were nothing but rats in a cage to you and Esben. Sarah was just a…a number, right?"

An almost imperceptible growl came from him and Tasha backed toward her car. "David… please, you can hate me all you want. I deserve it! But just think of my son. He's only a little boy. Only five-years-old!" She whimpered.

Her pleas snapped David's mind back, consciously, to the matter at hand. Tasha was definitely not to be trusted ever again. For all he knew, she might betray him at the first opportunity if it meant keeping her son safe or possibly bartering for the child's freedom. David couldn't live with himself if a child was harmed because of this.

They didn't have any time to waste.

"We'll stick with the plan." David stated evenly. It wasn't like they had anything better, and he wouldn't risk calling the authorities. There was no telling what Esben might do if they tried to take any kind of authoritative action. Between Sarah being a werewolf and his Hulk, it was best to leave police out of it.

Tasha nodded relieved. "Yes, the plan, it's a good one."

David had his work cut out for him. He wasn't entirely certain how trustworthy Sarah was and she'd proven to be somewhat unstable. These revelations, what she thought was the truth, could easily spiral her delicate mental state into a chaotic rage or cause her to self-harm.

David had a rough idea where to find her, if she chose to return to some of the areas she had liked the most in the woods. He just hoped that she could be reasonable without biting his head off.

David's mind raced as he hiked toward the forest, taking detours to ensure that he avoided any detection from the hunter.

He knew it would be tough to convince Sarah to help him or anyone else now, but he had to try. If all else failed, he would just go to Esben alone and see what he could do about freeing the child. He wondered how the Hulk would stand against a pack of brutal, violent werewolves, instead of just one female wolf who'd shown compassion and didn't continue to fight.

"Sarah?" He called out her name as loudly as he could, hoping she might approach him. After nearly twenty minutes of searching around, however, he finally contented himself with sitting in a clearing that she had indicated to be one of her favorite spots. It was a nice area where the creek ran through the center, providing a fresh water source and even fish here and there.

Barely three minutes passed when he heard footfalls accompanied by twig snaps. He half-turned on the log, trying not to make any startling moves. The whiteness of her fur stood out like a sore thumb amidst the brown tree trunks and green foliage.

She somehow managed a withering look even in her wolf form, one that strongly suggested a violation of her territory. Her low growl made the hairs on the back of David's neck stand up straight.

"Sarah, please listen." David began carefully, knowing he could still speak to her as a human but knowing full well how dangerous she was. "I just want to talk to you, okay? Here," he slowly moved his hands over to the hastily-packed knapsack he'd brought with him. "I have your clothes." He held out a sloppily folded pair of sweatpants and T-shirt toward her.

She tentatively stepped closer, sniffing the air in his direction. David remained as motionless as he could, bravely staying put even as she came close enough to bite him again. Her mouth opened in a quiet snarl, making him flinch, but then she snatched the clothes from his hands and sprinted a short distance away, behind a clump of bushes to privately dress.

David released a sharp breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding.

When she finally emerged, she approached, but kept a six foot distance. She looked ready to listen, but hadn't dropped her guard. She glowered at him, standing there with her arms folded.

"Sarah," David began as he stood, "there are a few important things I need to tell you."

Her eyes narrowed, but since she gave no indication of going for his throat or interrupting him. David warned her about the hunter and gave her the outline of his plan with Tasha. He didn't spare Tasha from Sarah's clear anger over her continued involvement with Esben and that her "freedom" was all a lie. Claws forced their way from Sarah's hands and she growled. David was shaken, but he didn't run.

"Sarah, believe me, I have deep, personal reasons to hate this woman too. Earlier I nearly turned into the creature in front of her just as you're doing right now. But hear me out just this once."

Sarah merely nodded even as her golden eyes flickered with anger and suppressed hurt.

"The only reason Tasha did these sneaky things is because Dr. Hansen forced her hand. He has her five-year old son hostage, Sarah, and has threatened to harm the child if she doesn't do what he wants."

"So Hansen wants me back," Sarah stated, speaking for the first time. "What do you want, exactly? Why do you stick around? What's in it for you?"

"Right now, I want to do everything in my power to see that Tasha's son doesn't get hurt."

"How noble." Sarah sneered. "Sure, so I'm supposed to risk _my_ life and freedom for _you,_ that rotten sneak and her kid I don't even know or care about!" Sarah shook her head venomously and began to stalk off. "I'm not helping anyone who played a part in making me what I am… _Dr. David Bruce Banner_." She practically spat his name out.

David snatched his knapsack and followed her, rummaging inside until his fingers found the piece of paper he was looking for. "Sarah listen to me. The article that Tasha showed you was a lie. Dr. Hansen tried to use the press to pressure me a few years ago to help him achieve his goals. But if you want to believe the newspaper, maybe you should have a look at this one, too."

She stopped, eyeing him as he held a different article out toward her. "Is that another article she conveniently had lying around?"

"I stopped at a library on the way over to try and find you," he admitted. "Will you please read it?"

She snatched the paper, crunching it, but then smoothed it out to read the long revealing story. After a couple of minutes, she handed it back and sighed, and her expression softened. "So it says you got Hansen discredited and removed from the Institute for his experiments. Well, guess what? He still used your research-"

"In a way that I _never_ intended for it to be used! Sarah, I never offered anything to him freely. He gained access to a lot of my remaining research and notes after I was presumed dead. Some of it was freely available to the public in Medical Journals anyway."

"But you still helped him make me a werewolf!" She sulked almost like a child.

"Sarah, there are a lot of things in science and nature that are always waiting to be discovered, whether they be theories or proven facts. If I hadn't formulated the building blocks that Esben twisted and used for his own purposes, someone else would have. I wasn't the only scientist working on these theories. I'd just had one major breakthrough before…before the Institute blew up."

The only response she gave was a low growl. It didn't sound quite the same in human form, but it was menacing nonetheless. "What about all those notes Tasha said you jotted down about me? And I heard you both talking… you were only interested in seeing if my condition could help you understand yours better, to find yourself a cure." She insisted.

"Yes, I was curious if I could correlate any comparisons between our conditions," David admitted readily. "But I really wanted to understand yours to see if I could help cure you."

"Ah, so it was all very noble then, was it?"

David rose and tossed out his hands. "Can you blame me, Sarah? Think about it this way: If you spent years without really knowing anyone with a condition like yours, and you finally met someone who not only had something similar, but you could also learn how it was created and managed, among other things, wouldn't you be curious? Wouldn't you feel a spark of hope?"

"I don't know, considering I can't read any of those notes. I don't have the education or the big brain for it."

David caught the thinly veiled resentment toward him being a doctor and a scientist. "Look, Sarah-"

"No, you look. You went around letting me think you're just some average guy who wanted to help, but it turns out that all along, you change into a pretty mean creature too." She clenched her teeth, causing David to fear that she might be entertaining the notion of transforming and taking a chomp out of him.

Apparently it just stayed in her head, just as his furious thoughts about Tasha earlier did. When she spoke again, he could see and hear more sadness and hurt than anger. "You could have told me we had something in common like this, David. Didn't you think I might find it interesting, too? Why didn't you tell me? I thought we were at least sorta… you know, becoming friends."

David sighed and sat on the opposite end of the log. "Sarah as far as I was concerned-and still am-we _are_ friends, at least I would like to think so. But that doesn't mean I'm going to tell you everything about me right away."

"So it's okay for you to poke and prod me, even let me transform in front of you… but you don't have to tell me anything about you?"

"It didn't seem to matter before."

"YOU STILL COULD HAVE TOLD ME!" She shrieked so loudly her voice echoed throughout the woods.

"Sarah!" David boldly closed the space between them and placed a gentle yet firm hand on her shoulder. "Calm. Down. Remember, there is someone looking for you as we speak."

She permitted him to stare her down, taking in deep breaths and letting them out slowly. David assumed she had been moderately angry enough to trigger another transformation.

"I can understand why you feel hurt," David went on, looking her in the eye and giving her shoulder a light squeeze. "But you wouldn't go around telling someone you barely knew about your condition, would you? I mean, would you have let me anywhere _near_ you if Tasha hadn't been there to vouch for me?"

"I don't know about that anymore. Seems like everybody is a damn traitor. You and your green creature, Tasha and her son, Hansen and his big buck discovery and experiments…" She trailed off.

"One day I hope you'll believe I'm not betraying you, but Sarah, we really don't have much time. We need to get out of here."

"Yeah, you say you want us to go to Texas to try and find the kid."

"We need to get out of here, Sarah. Esben will be after me now as much as you, and we might be able to locate the child." He indicated a bag just inside the knapsack. "If you could get a hint of the boy's scent-"

"So you want me to go back to the place I escaped from, risk my life and risk being recaptured? David, do you think I'm stupid or something? How do I know all of this isn't just some ploy to set me up again?"

"Is that what you really think?"

"...I don't know what to think about anything anymore." Sarah hung her head.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o**

"Where's the wolf girl?"

Tasha jumped and froze when Dylan Hunter emerged from the thicket as if materializing out of thin air. She swallowed hard with a deep breath as she glared at the large man's camouflage form rising from the bush like a sentinel. There was a time before all the craziness, before her son was taken, that Tasha thought he was ruggedly handsome. Despite her flirtations back then the man was a rock with a one track mind.

"I couldn't get her to come with me," replied smoothly. "but I know where she is. Come on, we need to hurry if we're going to catch her!"

Hunter's eyes narrowed suspiciously, the woman was a bad liar but Esben kept putting his trust in her. He grunted an assent and motioned her to lead the way.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

"Sarah?" David prompted after a full minute had passed. He could tell she was still conflicted, but they didn't have much time.

She finally looked at him directly, her eyes tight and her mouth somewhat twisted. "I don't like any of this." She shook her head. "But I don't like what this has been doing to me, either." Some of the venom melted from her eyes as she met his for the first time. "I've never bit anyone before."

David placed more weight on his left thigh when he realized she was scrutinizing the area she had bitten him. "I'm alright, not even a scratch."

"But the venom…?" Sarah shuddered.

"It seems my... metamorphosis neutralized it."

A small wave of relief washed over her, even if the guilt didn't completely evaporate. Then she confessed, "David, I... " Her throat caught in her throat. "When I first thought you were in cahoots with Hansen, I just wanted you to suffer, too. I never wanted to inflict this," she gestured at herself, "on anyone. I think I have become a monster." She hung her head and started to turn away.

David touched her arm, preventing her from going too far. "Sarah-"

"I've done nothing but hide from people, except for Tasha and you." Sarah remained half-turned, but didn't pull away. "That and eat animals. I'm starting to think that some kind of feral instinct is slowly taking me over."

"You have the willpower to overcome that, Sarah. You can still be human no matter what monster lies within you, because you _are_ still human."

She looked at him for a long moment, wondering if he was saying that as much for himself as he was for her. Somehow, they ended up closing the space between them, though neither would remember who made the first move. He gently put his arms around her as she rested her head against his shoulder.

"Sarah, we can't stay here," he reminded her.

"I guess if I want to prove I'm still human," Sarah's voice sounded a bit muffled against his shirt, "I can at least help look for that kid."

The corners of David's mouth uplifted a little. "Tasha gave me a couple of his favorite toys, I'm hoping they will be enough to help you pick up his scent."

Sarah pulled back and frowned up at him. "What do you expect me to do? Even if I'm gonna play bloodhound, I don't know where to start sniffing."

That had occurred to David as well. "I think the best place to start looking would be in Texas." He reached into his pocket and extracted a set of keys, jangling them slightly. "Tasha has given us permission to use her car. Thankfully, it has a nice new fan belt installed."

Sarah seemed to think hard about it for a moment, then she finally nodded with a frown. "Okay. Let's just get going already."

David took her hand and maintained a slight lead as they moved through the woods, headed back in the direction of Tasha's partially wrecked, rented house. All the while, David tried his best to lead them along what he felt was a discreet path, while Sarah occasionally grumbled about how slow it was to travel in bipedal form than on four powerful limbs.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

"Where is the wolf girl, Ms. Pines?"

Tasha was running out of excuses and she knew it. "I don't know … I really thought that Subject Seven would be out in one of the places I showed you."

Hunter stepped so close that she could feel his breath on her face. He was a tall and menacing man even without the scowl. He didn't lay a hand on her, but he looked peeved enough to strangle her with her own scarf if he had half a mind to.

"You've been leading me on a wild goose chase, Tasha." Hunter grated through clenched teeth. "What kind of game are you playing, woman? I never liked your games."

Tasha quaked, thoroughly embarrassed she'd ever flirted with this brute. She tried to get a grip on herself. By some miracle, her voice remained calm. "Dylan, I don't know where the wolf girl is."

Hunter studied her face, then determined she told the truth. "Just answer the question the best way you can. Why waste time? You know Hansen wants results."

Tasha sighed. "I-I think she's with the man who becomes the green creature."

Hunter's eyes narrowed into slits. "Ah, so they've teamed up and you're trying to keep me occupied to give them time to escape. Why?"

When she wouldn't respond, Hunter jabbed her lightly in the shoulder with the tip of his assault rifle. "Tell me what's in this for you, Tasha and you might get out of this alive."

Hot tears stung her eyes, confusing Hunter. "Esben Hansen has my son! If I don't do what he says, he'll hurt my boy! But I also can't bear the thought of him recapturing Subject Seven… she deserves better than that." Tasha blurted out.

"You'd risk your kid's life protecting that animal?" Hunter shook his head. "Alright," he said after letting out a sharp breath, "forget this! I don't approve of you letting two dangerous creatures go, but I also don't approve of Esben holding a kid hostage. We're heading back to Texas and you're gonna spin a yarn about how we tried to capture Seven but failed. Then," he concluded with a deep growl, "I'm gonna have a little chat with Esben about his policies."

Tasha's body relaxed. Maybe the man had a heart after all. "You'd do this for me?"

"Not for you," Hunter grunted. "I just know what it's like to lose … to lose … a child."

"What do you mean?"

For a moment, Hunter seemed offended at her prying. However, as they trekked back through the woods toward his motel, he permitted himself to say something further. "My son was killed by a rabid wolf years ago. We were camping in woods like these. Ever since then, I've made it my life's work to take down anything that poses a threat, or at least keep it contained."

Tasha nodded, her heart prickled with sadness. "I'm sorry."

"Don't mention it."

"Why do you work for Esben, Dylan? He created these werewolves."

Hunter grunted. "He didn't create the original stock."

Tasha did a double-take, then shook her head. "What are you talking about? He used a great deal of research to … "

Hunter swung around, stopping her in her tracks. "Oh he used some of that research, but only to 'adjust' what already existed to his liking. Many things existed in this world long before Esben came along."

"Are you trying to tell me," Tasha asked skeptically, "that werewolves existed _before _he started his experiments?"

"He had to get the DNA samples and venom from somewhere in order to study and modify it. Didn't you ever think of that?" Hunter said tersely.

Tasha still couldn't believe it. "But … but he said that all came from _real _wolves!"

"And you believe that man? Look where it's gotten you, Tasha. Werewolves originated in Europe, I don't know where."

"Let me guess. Transylvania?" She rolled her eyes.

"Good guess as any. The werewolf curse had probably been around for as long as mankind, through the infection caused by a venomous bite. There could be werewolves all over this planet."

Tasha felt her blood run cold. "How do you know so much about this, Dylan?"

"Not your concern right now, woman. It's time to talk to the boss."

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

**Two Days Later …**

Esben Hansen seemed to accept the report that Subject Seven managed to get away with David's help, which guaranteed Tasha's son's safety much to her relief, although Esben wasn't too happy that Hunter made little effort to track or pursue their quarry.

After Tasha had been dismissed from the room to complete her usual duties around the secret Lab, Esben and Hunter continued their discussion privately.

"Why didn't you go after Seven?" Esben demanded. "You of all people have the capacity to track her and find her while the scent was fresh!"

Hunter stood, his bulky form towering over the scientist. "Because I didn't realize you'd stooped to kidnapping children and blackmail!"

Esben scowled. "The … arrangements between Tasha and I are none of your business. It has nothing to do with you."

"Maybe not, but I can't work for someone who threatens harm to an innocent child." Hunter gritted his teeth.

"Ah, I get it now." Esben folded his arms. "You think that because you couldn't save your son from wild wolves, you can save Tasha's. Remember one thing, Hunter. I hold _your life_ in the balance as much as I hold anyone else's." He raised his fingers to hold up an imaginary object. "Do you really want to push me?"

Hunter's face and body turned stone still and he backed down reluctantly. "Just don't hurt him." He muttered.

"As long as all my pets do what I say, nobody will get hurt." Esben grinned.

Dylan Hunter often took trips to Europe to visit his family's graves. On one of his hunting trips, Hunter learned that a serial killer stalked the village he'd used to live in with his family. The information he discovered had all the earmarks of wild animal attacks. Hunter decided to draw this killer out and he came across a rare, feral creature. The beast was male humanoid in form. A wild instinct had consumed him. For all anyone knew, he may have been the last of its kind … a genuine werewolf. Hunter followed him to his cave dwelling and had to hold back from the stench of rotting corpses torn apart as prey and food for this creature.

Hunter had managed to kill the monster after a fierce struggle, and not before it had sunk its razor sharp fangs deep into his shoulder, almost tearing his arm off. When he gave the beast a killing blow with a silver bullet between the eyes, it slumped backward and Hunter watched horrified as the furry body shrank and twisted down to the form of a stocky, tanned, naked man with long brown hair, broad features. Hunter managed to staunch his wound quickly and he dragged the body, tossing it into the cave with the others.

Hunter's own body soon went through raging changes and he fell sick for days. Despite his wild nausea, fevers and chills, the shoulder wound healed miraculously fast. Upon returning to America, no regular hospital could determine what was wrong, and they figured he'd caught a rare infection in the European forests. Hunter knew the truth. He'd been bitten by the werewolf and the chances were he'd become just like that man in Europe by the next full moon.

Hunter was at a loss. He wouldn't allow himself to become what he'd despised and had planned to take his own life.

Like another miracle he didn't deserve, Esben Hansen emerged from the woodwork and took Hunter's blood samples for a deep analysis and study. He concocted a serum that reduced some of the symptoms, but mostly suppressed the baser, feral instincts that threatened to consume Hunter. What Hunter hadn't realized at the time was that Esben had also used his blood in combination with a variety of research, including that of Dr. David Banner.

Hunter hated his dependency on Hansen's serum. He wished he could be freed from his shackles, but he was resigned to a life of Hell keeping Esben's failed experiments under control, hunting and killing them if necessary.

The worst thing was that every single werewolf, with the exception of lucky Subject Seven, had proven to be nothing but feral and mindless animals whenever they transformed. Worse than him. Seven was the only one to have a mindfulness and a firm grip on her own human identity while in wolf form.

"Now Hunter," Esben chided, bringing him back to attention. "I've always told you, If you don't like the way I do things, feel free to leave," Esben shrugged nonchalantly. "But you know that you need me to keep giving you injections. And you know the people we work for won't take your desertion lightly."

Hunter said nothing.

"Now," Esben said, "Be an obedient soldier and get back out there and find Seven. Do whatever you need to do, even if you have to kill Banner, but I want her kept alive and unharmed. "

Hunter forced a mock salute and stalked out of his office.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

"How much longer 'til we get there?" Sarah winced slightly, hating how kiddish that sounded.

"Should be another hour or so," David answered.

Sarah had contented herself with staring out the window during what seemed like the longest car ride of her life. They had stopped a couple of times over the last few days to give David a chance to rest, but for the most part he had been driving non-stop.

"David… there's something I have been meaning to tell you."

"Hmm?"

"I'm very sorry I bit you. And I'm sorry I felt like I wanted you to suffer in that way, too."

"I thought we already went over this. You don't need to worry about it. I accept your apology."

"Yeah I know, but… my intent was still there."

"Well, just use this incident as an incentive not to do it to anyone else. You might have your human wits about you as a wolf, but you know very little about this venom and how it affects your brain. You still carry the animal instinct."

"But I don't think I would have done it, if I'd known you change into a creature, too." Sarah admitted.

David spared a glance in her direction then turned his eyes back to the road. "Are you still bothered that I didn't tell you about my … _condition?_" His hands tightened slightly on the steering wheel.

"Maybe a little. I can't help the way I feel."

"No, I suppose you can't. But can you at least understand why I would choose to keep it private?"

"I guess. It's not like you really knew me, and it's not like I was very friendly or approachable the first few days we met anyway."

"You had your reasons, like I had my reasons." He cast her a meaningful, sideways glance.

"I'm just trying to make some sense of all this," Sarah finally said. "I mean, I've had two days to think about it. I think I can believe that you're not really responsible for anything that happened to me. But I still can't believe you would do something to yourself that would make you change into a big green creature …"

"We all end up doing things we regret later when we're desperate, Sarah. Such as you handing yourself over to Dr. Hansen when he sweetened the deal with promises of food, shelter, clothing and other things you wanted and needed. I had no idea I'd turn into a creature like this. I didn't even believe such things were possible. I'm still trying to wrap my head around the existence of werewolves."

"Yeah, but it sounds like you had it made _before_ you did this to yourself."

David grunted. Sarah didn't know his personal life, and how his wife died trapped in a burning vehicle because his strength failed him. That was his motivation to begin the experiments with human strength. When Laura died he'd become a walking shell, and hardly had it "made." He thought of Tasha's admission that she, by Esben's order, had been responsible for the gamma ray machine mix-up when he used it that fateful night.

He and Sarah had something in common. Esben had inflicted a "curse" on both of them, even if each of them had willingly subjected themselves to experimentation.

"Look, I guess I get it," Sarah finally said. "Sounds like everybody's made dumb choices because they hoped to get something out of it. Tasha's only been thinking about her kid, and … you have your own problems. Esben has his goals, and I'm just…" She sort of shrugged. "I'm still trying to figure myself out."

David gave a little nod. "Well, I'll try to help you while I can." He had taken the liberty of putting all of the paperwork and research notes Tasha had in the trunk of the vehicle before they'd left the house.

"Yeah, well… if it's okay with you, I would like to stick with you for awhile. I won't get in your way or anything, I would… just tag along."

David said nothing. He could understand her needing someone to lean on for a while until she found her bearings. It was something they had to discuss after they dealt with more pressing matters. If they even made it out alive. Although he'd helped some people and allowed them to tag along, it often came at great sacrifice and near death experiences. Now he never permitted anyone to go with him when he moved on after a Hulk-out. He couldn't risk anyone getting caught up in his problems, possibly to the point of getting hurt. Not to mention his ongoing search for a cure, the stalker McGee, and the constant fear of getting captured or being hunted again.

Could he really turn her away, though? When he felt her eyes on him, awaiting some kind of confirmation or rejection, he finally offered,

"Well, we'll have to see, Sarah. Let's make it through this first."

She seemed content with that answer for the moment and resumed staring quietly out the window.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o**

Tasha discreetly tried to do what she could on her end. She wasn't sure what Esben was up to, though she knew that Hunter had left a while ago.

She kept David's promise in mind, knowing he would bring Sarah and they would meet somewhere near the facility. They were due to arrive soon at a diner located near the edge of the city closest to Esben's secret research lab.

Tasha did her best to gather what information she could from the inside. She was familiar with the layout of the building and it hadn't changed drastically since she'd left. Some of the werewolf subjects she'd tested were still confined to their cages, and there were a few new ones. For the first time, her heart went out to them.

Esben was trying to replicate the success he had with Subject Seven in another test subject, just in case she couldn't be recaptured.

He needed to create another perfect specimen. However, there were too many unknown factors. Sarah and unique properties in her DNA that heightened the effect of the venom. It would take more research and a lot more resources to understand it better and possibly duplicate it. For now, Sarah's case was lightning in a bottle.

An odd thing they'd discovered about genetically engineered werewolves was how their venomous bites infected others with their own unique strand. Sarah was a prize due to the level of self-awareness she exhibited and her ability to transform at will, even if emotional triggers still caused it to happen unintentionally. They had great difficulty controlling the other subjects and they turned into mindless, vicious animals.

In the worst cases, the alteration of their DNA had reduced their intellectual capacity in human form, leaving them mentally handicapped and others brain-damaged.

Sarah was extremely lucky, even if she was cursed.

Tasha was a little suspicious at the end of the day when Esben let her go a little too readily, acting as though he was delighted to see her show up at all. But she didn't have time to question it if she was going to meet her rendezvous.

She didn't realize that someone discreetly followed her after she left the underground facility.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

David quickly noticed Sarah's discomfort as they entered the diner. She didn't like being in a place that had a lot of people, even if it was ideal for blending into a crowd.

Then again, it had taken her some time to get used to the confined space of a car, too. She had traveled with Tasha via a train and a couple of buses, but since then she had gotten used to roaming free as a wolf in the woods. Apparently the car ride with David had been the first time she had been inside it, particularly since Tasha had only purchased it from a used lot soon after they got settled.

David quickly realized that she wasn't used to places that were a step up from fast food joints. This restaurant wasn't particularly fancy and they could select their own seating arrangements, but there were a few things David had to explain to her.

"Aren't we supposed to go up to someone to order?" she asked, puzzled when David motioned her to sit at an empty booth.

"No. You're thinking of a place like McDonalds," David explained patiently. "In a diner like this, you order from a menu and wait to be served."

Sarah blinked, revealing a little more of how sheltered she had apparently been. "You mean, people come here and pay to have food cooked and put in front of them? Do these people miss their mothers or something?"

"It's just the way the service here works." David had worked as a busboy several times over the last few years, though he couldn't say he ever felt like he was serving family while doing it. "And Sarah, please don't slouch so much… we are in public."

She grunted and straightened. She did plant her elbows on the table, but he ignored it. "You know, I haven't eaten anything cooked in a long time."

David tried not to think too much about the way she normally ate. He didn't want to ruin his own appetite. He glanced up just as a waitress handed him a menu. The young lady then offered one to Sarah, who shrank back slightly at the stranger's close proximity.

"Here, I'll take it," David accepted the proffered menu on Sarah's behalf and placed it on the table next to her, even if the girl ignored it with barely a glance.

The waitress cast a puzzled look at the female patron. "I'll be back around in a couple of minutes," was all she said before walking away.

"What would you like, Sarah?" David asked.

Sarah didn't respond, appearing very uneasy. The sights, sounds and smells of the diner and everyone in it were a tad overstimulating, at least for her. This caused David to frown, wondering if this rendezvous had been such a good idea.

For an instant, David tried to put himself in her shoes, particularly while gauging her body language and the way her eyes kept darting around the room. What would it feel like, to be surrounded by strangers when having every reason to prefer keeping a distance from people? To have highly sensitive hearing, to the point where even a fork clinking against a plate would sound amplified?

He could understand why she preferred the peace of the forest and the sheltering of Tasha's small house. This place was somewhat boisterous, full of a sea of distractions if you weren't used to it and were more sensitive to sensing movements out of the corner of your eye or any kind of noise.

"Hey." David placed a gentle hand on the back of hers. Sarah's eyes snapped to him, glanced down at his hand, then back at him. Sensing that she could use this as sort of an anchor, he gave her hand a gentle squeeze. "Just try to focus on what's right in front of you. Try to tune out everything else that's going on."

She closed her eyes briefly, just to snap them back open as if the blackness only made it worse. She slipped her hand out from under his, but only to wrap her fingers around his. Her arm became rigid, but for the moment she seemed to use the sensation of touch and gripping hard on his hand as a way to filter out anything else that threatened to overload her senses.

"I'd just like a burger, rare." She said that while looking straight into his eyes, with such intensity and concentration that he couldn't help but chuckle a little despite everything. In her effort to try and function through this, and do what she felt was expected of her, she sounded like stating her order was the most important thing she would do all day.

"Okay," David smiled and glanced up just as a waitress returned. Sarah pulled her hand away from his and looked away, as though wanting to remain invisible.

"What'll it be, folks?"

"One burger, rare," David indicated Sarah, "and I'll have one well-done."

"Any beverages with that?"

"Just some coffee."

"Alrighty, it'll be here shortly." The waitress spared another glance at the girl. "Is she okay?"

"I'm fine," Sarah said a bit shortly.

"We're just a bit tired. We've been on the road all day and we're heading to a motel after this," David supplied diplomatically.

"Ah, you came here for the local hoe-down, then," the waitress mused. "Lots of people have been coming from all around for the convention. It's the reason this place is more crowded than it usually is."

"Yes," David said smoothly with a smile. "We've really been looking forward to it, but we traveled all the way from Wisconsin."

"Right. Well, your order should be ready shortly." With that, the waitress walked away to resume her rounds and serve other patrons.

Sarah seemed to relax now that no one except David was paying her any attention. She had her hands clasped together atop the table and fixated her eyes on a salt shaker, as if to stay grounded.

After a couple of minutes passed Tasha finally appeared, entering casually through the front door. David half-rose and discreetly waved her over.

"I'm so glad both of you made it," Tasha greeted them. Sarah glanced up in silent acknowledgement of her presence but didn't move.

David remedied this by standing and motioning Tasha to sit. She slid into the booth and moved until she was next to the wall, allowing David to sit next to her and have the home-field advantage of the exterior.

"Did you have a safe trip?" Tasha asked.

David nodded. "Yeah, your car is just outside."

"Mhm, I saw it on the way in," Tasha held out her hand and David dropped her keyring into her palm, with Sarah's narrowed eyes watching their every move.

A slightly awkward silence passed between them. Even though they were all present for the same goal, more or less, it didn't mean everything was peachy either. David was just about to try and break the silence when the waitress appeared with their orders and placed them on the table.

"Would you like anything, Ma'am?" the waitress asked Tasha.

"Oh, just some coffee, please."

"It'll be right out."

After the waitress left, Sarah engrossed herself in her food as though dismissing the existence of everything else around her. To her credit, she didn't eat entirely like a barbarian in public, though some of the blood from the rare burger did drip down her face a bit.

Tasha wordlessly placed a few napkins indicatively in front of her, but otherwise said nothing. Sarah glared at her, but seemed to remember that she was in public and took one of the napkins to wipe her chin.

"Do you have any idea where your son might be?" David finally asked in a low voice.

"Esben has never said anything specific, but I have a general idea," Tasha whispered back.

Sarah suddenly stood up straight, alarmed, one foot conspicuously on her seat.

"Sarah, what is it?" David stood as well and Tasha remained seated, frowning and shooting puzzled glances back and forth.

Sarah said nothing. Her gaze locked onto one of the nearby windows that offered nothing but a view of the parking lot and some foliage on the outer perimeter. David saw a dark-haired individual standing still and peering inside. The man appeared to be in his late thirties or early forties, immensely tall and clean-shaven. He was oddly dressed, like someone prepared for a long trek through the wilderness.

A few new patrons entered the diner just then, temporarily blocking the view of the window as they filled seats and greeted people they'd come to dine with. The sudden burst of newcomers quickly thinned, only to reveal that the man outside disappeared.

Sarah bared her teeth and remained stiff and motionless. Her eyes swept the interior of the restaurant, unable to find anyone with the same attire as that man. He would have stuck out like a sore thumb anyway. Her gaze penetrated each window, one by one. She saw nothing outside except parked cars, pavement and some trees.

David moved to Sarah's side of the booth. "Sarah, please sit down." When she didn't, he took the liberty of taking her arm and giving the back of her shoe a light smack, getting her to move it back on the floor where it belonged. Once she was seated, he sat next to her.

"David." Tasha leaned across the table toward them. "I know who that was."

"Who?" David asked.

"The wolf hunter I mentioned. That was him. His name is literally Hunter. Dylan Hunter."

"I've seen him before." Sarah growled. "Another one of Esben's dogs."

"I thought you managed to lose him, Tasha." David said, tensely.

"Actually," Tasha confessed, "I returned to the lab with him."

Sarah half-stood, clenching her fists at her sides. "Was this another one of your tricks?" She was starting to get more than a trace of a feral look and Tasha shrank back.

David placed a hand on her shoulder. "Sarah, take it easy. Remember," he added more softly near her ear, "we're in a public place." She hesitated, but quickly sat back down. David eyed her for a moment longer, noting the way she childishly sank back and folded her arms with a scowl, He'd put up with that behavior for now as long as that was _all _she was going to do.

"He figured out I was leading him in circles," Tasha continued. "I told him about my son. Believe it or not, he hates that Esben is using a child to coerce me. He told me that he would return to the facility with me and I was to lie about how we tried our best to find you, but you both eluded us."

"So you're a double-crosser all around …" Sarah gritted her words through clenched teeth.

David shot her another glance, but saw nothing to get concerned about. "What happened then?" he asked.

"I'm not sure. The last I heard, he wanted to confront Esben about his… way of doing things."

"Then what is the hunter doing here now?"

Tasha shrugged and shook her head. "I think if he had something to say to me, he would have come inside."

"He may not want to approach while he sees you with us." David suggested.

"I don't know, it's possible." Tasha frowned.

David's head tilted slightly. "Tasha, what is it?"

Tasha's brow furrowed. She hated how easily her expression revealed her feelings. "Hunter said some strange things to me." She briefly explained their talk in the woods.

David leaned forward as Tasha spoke softly, trying to keep an open mind. Esben discovered a natural werewolf venom, and repurposed it for his own design through immoral human experimentation. It wasn't a surprise to him, considering he had seen another Hulk first-hand, and there had been a hulk creature who existed thousands of years ago, the remains were discovered in an archaeological dig.

His condition wasn't entirely unique and neither was Sarah's, at least in some ways.

"We have to assume Hunter's intentions may be dangerous," David finally said. "We should leave."

When the waitress finally brought Tasha's coffee, David quickly requested the check and paid for everyone.

"Do we go for the car?" Tasha asked. "He could still be out there."

"Let me," Sarah growled impatiently, deciding to take the matter into her own hands.

"Sarah!" David reached for her arm, but she was too quick. He shot a frustrated glance at Tasha, and they followed Sarah out the door.

"Maybe we ought to get a leash," Tasha remarked, and Sarah cast an annoyed look in her direction.

"Sarah, what are you doing?" David demanded as the girl finally stopped. They stood on the exact spot where Hunter had been looking at them through the window.

"He wasn't here, but he was! " Sarah looked agitated. She glanced in every direction, as though trying to catch some glimpse of the man, then stamped her foot on the spot.

"What do you mean?" David asked.

"I don't smell him! That's impossible, but there's another weird smell."

"I think I know what that is," Tasha chimed in. "Esben provides Hunter with a cream that masks his scent. He does that so werewolves can't detect him until it's too late."

"So I won't know he's there until he's about to kill me?"

"Hold on," David held up a hand. "Sarah, you just said there _is _a 'weird smell'. What do you mean?"

"I don't know. It's like a funny plastic smell."

"Well, that's all we need. Let us know immediately if your nose picks up that 'funny plastic smell' again, okay?" David requested.

"Um, okay."

"Should we head to the car?" Tasha asked.

"Yes, fast," David said.

Tasha scooted into the driver's side while Sarah unceremoniously crawled into the back. David glanced through the back window, but promptly took his position in the 'shotgun' position up front. They drove steadily along until they hit the nearest highway and got out of range of other people.

They heard a terrible noise like a crack of thunder. The car careened out of control after one of the front wheels had a chunk blown out of it from a well-aimed projectile. Tasha shrieked and the car swerved. David immediately grabbed the wheel and managed to help prevent them from going off the road into a deep ditch.

Tasha's foot finally hit the brakes, just as David helped guide the car into a driveway in front of an old, abandoned house.

Sarah, in full-panic-mode now, launched herself out of the vehicle before it came to a complete halt. She grunted and sort of rolled awkwardly due to the impact; it stung a bit.

"What the hell is she doing?" Tasha was the first to notice.

David's head's turned just in time to see Sarah half-sprawled outside, on the ground. He flung the car door open and moved to check on her, but stopped dead in his tracks when she suddenly exploded out of her clothes, skin rippling into fur and a tail sprouting out of nowhere. It was impossible to tell if the transformation was deliberate or triggered by fear and stress.

"_David!" _Tasha shrieked, pointing.

Dylan Hunter appeared, running fast in plain sight along the side of the road, from the direction which they had just driven. He carried a large, menacing rifle.

David felt his stress levels rising more and more. The next thing he knew, a shot fired straight toward him. The silvery-white wolf leaped in front of him then slammed back on the ground. She jolted and twitched so hard that he knew she had been hit.

In the next instant, Tasha screamed as another bullet barely missed David's head and shattered the window on the passenger side. David stumbled against the headlights and sprawled over the hood, just in time to feel his body tense. The last thing he was consciously aware of was his reflection in the windshield, and eyes turning white.

"Oh God, David, what have I done to you?" Tasha groaned as she witnessed, for the second time, his skin turned green as his muscles expanded. His form bulged until his shirt was completely torn. She could only stare in fascination, for she'd witnessed similar things many times back in Esben's lab, even if this was no werewolf.

Hunter froze, completely taken aback when he saw the green creature for the first time.

"What the hell is this now!" He shouted to the sky. "I'm sick of these damn abominations!" He quickly recovered and jumped into action. He cocked his rifle and prepared for another shot.

Tasha had already jumped out of the car and gotten down on the ground, not daring to run. When Hunter raised his rifle at the Hulk, the green creature showed a sense of self-preservation and he leaped to the other side of the car where the wolf was. Hunter hesitated, trying to maintain a safe distance while attempting to get a better shot in his scope before firing.

The Hulk then half-lifted, and pushed the car in the assassin's direction. Hunter went bug-eyed and leaped out of the way as the vehicle barely missed him by a foot and skidded past, leaving deep trenches in the dirt. The car slammed into a deep ditch just beyond him.

Hunter rolled over, but just as he started to rise, the Hulk grabbed his rifle from the bush. He twisted it like a pretzel, then tossed it aside like it was a mere annoyance.

Hunter suddenly found himself ill-prepared. He wasn't ready to take on a creature he had no prior experience with or knowledge of, especially without a weapon. He cast a brief glance in Subject Seven's direction, remembering his orders to keep her alive.

"_Crap! Esben's gonna be furious."_ He thought.

The bullet had not penetrated a lethal area. He could attempt to retrieve her wounded form later. It would make his job easier.

Hunter made a hasty retreat, quickly vanishing from sight.

Tasha took that as her cue to make a run for it, having no loyalty to anyone except herself and her son. The situation had gotten too unpredictable and dangerous.

The Hulk, noting everyone else had gone, scooped the semi-conscious wolf into his arms. He slung the white furry creature over his shoulder as she was too cumbersome to carry any other way. He then picked a direction and began to run.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

David went through the same sensation he always felt whenever he morphed back into his normal, human self. The feeling of disorientation had become familiar over the years, but still left him with a somewhat out-of-body experience. A different creature had run the show for a period of time, and now it was his job to figure out what happened.

He shivered and wrapped his arms around his chest. A sudden decrease in his body temperature was the consistent side-effect of changing back. He had theorized long ago that it had something to do with a shock to the system, and perhaps the slowing of his metabolism after having it increased tenfold. He was just grateful that it wasn't quite the same as the early days when he felt horrendously dehydrated after his first few changes. Perhaps his body had adapted somewhat.

A noise caught his attention. He looked sharply to his right, and then down. He started a little when he realized it was Sarah in wolf form, laying somewhat haphazardly on the ground. His eyes were quickly drawn to a spot in her thigh that bled profusely.

He rose from the fallen tree the Hulk had left sitting on and approached the werewolf, squatting next to her.

David examined the gunshot wound on her thigh more closely. From what he could tell, the bullet had gone in deep and was lodged into the bone. The tissues weren't regenerating, and the area had kind of a reddish-black look. He quickly realized that Hunter used a silver bullet.

According to the documents he'd read, silver was the one thing that affected any werewolf on a molecular and biochemical level as a poison and an erosive substance. It suppressed the natural healing ability in the area of penetration and tissue contact and prolonged exposure would gradually spread and contaminate the rest of the body, like an infection.

Despite Sarah being Esben's most successful "prototype", he hadn't bothered to try modifying her DNA and molecular structure to be unaffected by silver just in case he needed to put her down.

Either that or it wasn't possible to make a werewolf immune to silver...

David knew he had to get that bullet out of her fast. It had already weakened her and it would eventually kill her. But what could he do? He wasn't even sure where they were, and he didn't have anything he could use as a surgical tool.

He knew he couldn't just leave her like this. He looked up at the sky, noting that the sun had already set and thankfully it was a clear night. The stars had already started to emerge and shine, allowing him to locate one in particular: the North Star. Without the aid of a compass, he used that to try and form an approximate bearing. He made the best guess he could about which direction the lab was, knowing full well that they would have the equipment to perform surgery.

But he was no fool. He knew they wouldn't just let him walk in. He would need Tasha's help, or he would have to find a way to slip in. He also knew that he couldn't carry Sarah that entire distance, he would need a car. The first order of business would be to try and retrace the Hulk's steps and get back to the car, hoping and praying that it was still in good condition and had a replacement tire.

What about her, though? Could he trust her not to bite or scratch in this situation? Her animal side might react instinctively due to pain and fear...

There was no way he could carry her while she was in wolf form, not without the strength of the Hulk, and trying to move her in this condition might be dangerous for her.

"Sarah?" He lightly tapped her muscular, heavily furred shoulder. When there was no response he chanced placing a hand on the softer fur of her cheek, even knowing full well she could easily snap his hand off. "Sarah, can you hear me?" He gently tapped her temple, encouraged when he heard a grunt.

He waited until her eyelids were more than barely open slits and looked directly into those large, golden orbs. "Sarah, please listen to me carefully. I need you to try and change back into human form. I need to get you out of here, but I can't lift you like this." He could only hope that the strain of a willful metamorphosis wouldn't be too much, but dying would hurt her worse.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

Hunter headed back to the abandoned house. He tried to formulate a new plan to take down the Hulk based on what he had seen. Werewolves were strong and quick, and they were far more animalistic. They either tore you to pieces or ran away to the nearest hidey-hole. The green creature had seemed more like a huge, violent toddler who threw heavy objects around and he had his own motivations while in that state, including a protective stance toward Subject Seven. Hunter would bear that in mind for their next confrontation.

He spotted the car as he passed the ditch where it remained on its side within, but kept walking. He didn't need it and it wasn't important.

It wasn't long before he spotted Tasha coming toward the car from the opposite direction. She stopped when she saw him and they stared each other down, uncertain of the other's intentions.

Something else caught Hunter's attention now. The sun had already set and it wouldn't be long before the full moon was visible.

"Shoot, I thought I had another week!" He stomped on the gravel. It was no wonder his reflexes and stamina were quick enough to chase down Tasha's car. During the week of the full moon, a werewolf's human strength increases, they go through mood-swings, get hairier, and start craving fresh meat. Their senses run wild. Werewolfism was a lottery and everyone had different symptoms. Esben's serum couldn't suppress everything. It kept him from growing too feral in human form, but the scientist couldn't control what happened to a natural, unaltered werewolf during the night of a full moon once a month. Because he was taking the blockers, and focused on his current mission, Hunter missed the signs.

Hunter grunted and made a beeline for Tasha, grabbing her arm.

"Hey, what the hell are you doing?"

"Shut up and come with me, now!"

Unable to put up much of a fight against such a large and muscular man, Tasha was pulled along toward the front door of the abandoned house. Hunter kicked down the door effortlessly and yanked her inside. He escorted her around the house somewhat roughly, as though he were looking for something. Tasha stared at him with widened eyes, but she got the vibe that he was more frightened than angry or anything else.

"Why won't you let me go?" Tasha finally demanded.

Hunter looked her straight in the eye. She gasped when she saw traces of gold mixing with his natural blue, almost glowing in the darkness of the old house. "The basement will be good enough," he growled, more to himself than her. He opened the door and practically carried her down the steps to another door and kicked it open.

Once inside, he pushed a large piece of furniture up against the door. He examined the room quickly, able to see better than Tasha in the near pitch-blackness.

"Get in here," he pulled her toward a large wardrobe, "and stay there. I'll put something heavy against it and return to let you out in the morning."

"What? You're going to leave me locked up down here? Tasha gripped the sides of the wardrobe and swung around. "Wait! Why are you putting me down here! What do you plan to do?"

"I'm doing this to protect you from _me,_" Hunter growled. "I… I don't wanna hurt you." His voice softened. "And… I'm sorry, I know you once had a thing for me. I liked ya too, Tasha, but the timing was all wrong. Everything's wrong under Esben."

Tasha's pulse quickened and before she knew it, she felt his warm lips trace hers and he pulled her against him with jarring force. Just as their kisses deepened, he pushed her into the wardrobe and slammed the door. The floorboards groaned with protest as he shoved a large piece of furniture against it, trapping her inside.

"Wait! Wait! Hunter! Stop!"

"I can't! It's starting. Your boy needs you!" His voice came out rough and garbled.

Wasting no more time, Hunter quickly launched himself out through the nearest window, ignoring the sting of mild abrasions as he rolled through broken glass to absorb the impact. He leapt to his feet and ran from the house, hoping to put enough space between it and himself before the curse took over. He tried to make himself forget about Tasha, and that sudden kiss he should've shared with her long ago. He redirected his thoughts to anything else, hoping to give his feral side less incentive to come back to the house for any reason.

Unlike Subject Seven, As far as Dylan Hunter knew he didn't retain humanity or intelligent thought when he changed. It wouldn't be long before he transformed into a feral and mindless, a beast.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

David carried Sarah's slender form across the desert landscape, keeping his mouth closed to breathe through his nose to preserve moisture. The night air was cooler but the desert was still quite warm, with the added annoyance of dusty sand that threatened to infiltrate his nostrils.

It had taken some convincing to get Sarah to transform, but it didn't seem to affect her wound much. She didn't like the idea of losing the relative modesty her wolf fur provided, but she struggled to move on her own and didn't want to lean on him. When she had finally shimmered into human form, David gently began to carry her in what he guessed was the direction of Tasha's car.

He could only hope that carrying a naked girl while having a ripped shirt would be less conspicuous than if he had to deal with her in wolf form. He felt relieved that this area was fairly remote and there weren't any people around. The only downside was that it meant there wouldn't be any clotheslines where he could snag a blanket to put around Sarah. He had only the endurance he'd built up for years to count on for now.

He was grateful for that, even if his bare feet protested. He just hoped to God that he wouldn't run into any scorpions or other stinging, biting creatures, especially with his pants ripped up to his thighs. The irony that he carried a potentially hazardous being protectively in his arms was not entirely lost on him, either. Right now, she seemed to be in great pain and barely conscious with labored breathing.

It took about twenty-five minutes until the abandoned house finally came into sight. David's heart sank when he didn't see Tasha's car anywhere. Had the woman managed to get it fixed and taken it back to Esben, along with everything in the trunk? David wouldn't put it past her after everything else that had happened.

When he got closer, he saw the edge of the car peeking out of a ditch. He gently set Sarah on the ground on the flattest spot he could find near the car, then turned his attention to the trunk, but it wouldn't budge.

The keys were still in the engine. However, the car was lodged on its side with a gaping hole in the tire from where Hunter had blown it out. David grabbed the keys and wrangled the trunk open.

Popping the trunk open ended up being easy with the keys. Some of the research papers and a few other items spilled out onto the ground. David extracted a blanket from the tumbled contents of the trunk, noting that Tasha had come prepared. He grabbed a first aid kit and a container of items that appeared useful. He noticed a backpack with clothes stuffed inside.

David blinked with surprise when he realized it was a mix of his own clothes with some of Sarah's. At least Tasha had been thoughtful enough to prepare a few things on behalf of him _and_ the girl.

He turned his attention back to Sarah, quickly but neatly placing all of the items near her. These weren't the ideal conditions to operate but it had to be done. Since the wound was still fresh, he hoped he could very carefully follow the path of the wound to the bullet. They certainly weren't going to find an X-ray machine in the desert.

He couldn't take her to a hospital. He didn't have painkillers, but he knew from Esben's notes that most drugs introduced into her system were neutralized within seconds by her immune system. Giving her morphine or even a knock-out substance might have been like trying to give her candy pills for an earache. All he could do was hope that she would remain in a semi-unconscious state while he operated.

This was going to hurt no matter what, but he had to do it.

David took a large knife from the container of odds and ends Tasha had packed and sterilized it with medicinal alcohol from the med kit. He leaned over the injured girl. "Sarah," he told her, "I'm going to get that silver bullet out of you. If you can hear me, please try to stay calm." Her eyelids flickered in response and he quickly added, "This is going to hurt, but please keep still. Don't move too much."

She tensed even before he began to make the incision. Her healing factor still hadn't kicked in, which would allow him to operate but be a hindrance for her. He began to very carefully go in, noting the damage that the silver had done to the tissues, especially as he got closer to the inflicted hip bone. It were as if the silver infected her system and started attacking the surrounding healthy tissue. It showed no sign of stopping.

Just as he made the incision large enough to reach where the bullet had impacted, Sarah whimpered and squirmed. He gently but firmly grasped her shoulders and pushed her back down, holding her flat. "I know it hurts very much," David said, hating everything about this when he looked into her tear-filled eyes. "I need you to be brave and keep still while I get the bullet out. If I don't take it out, the silver will kill you. It's poisoning you and damaging the tissue as we speak. You saved my life. Now I'm going to save yours. Do you understand that, Sarah?"

She trembled, then nodded and grabbed his arm. David gave her hand a comforting squeeze, wishing that he had Tasha or someone else to hold her hand or possibly restrain her if it came to that. He didn't even have a rope or anything that he could strap her down with.

He found a relatively clean cloth to put in her mouth, instructing her to bite down on it as hard as she wanted, and he folded up the blanket and told her to put her arms around it. She hugged it tightly against her chest while he proceeded. It was the best thing she could use in lieu of a hand to hold.

It was a little tricky to extract the bullet from the hip bone. David winced when he saw the moderate damage that had been done to the bone by the bullet's impact, but he felt it would heal cleanly and he was grateful he had carried her rather than letting her walk. That might've worsened the damage.

Once he successfully took the bullet out, he poured alcohol over it to remove her venomous blood and tossed it as far as he could into the desert, where eventually the sand would swallow it up. He doubled up strands of dental floss to stitch the incision, hoping it would hold until her own self-healing could kick in again.

It would take time for her system to recover from silver poisoning, even though the source had been removed.

After David finished the suture and bandaged up the wound, he went over to the ditch and did his best to grab the research papers and notes.

"What are you doing?" Sarah asked weakly as he returned to her side.

"I'm trying to find anything I can about silver poisoning. Even though I got the bullet out, it still reacted with the venom like a poison." David knew he had seen a notation where Esben had inflicted silver poisoning on a couple of his "rejects" to see what would happen. He hoped there were notes on how to heal or reverse the damage.

Unfortunately, the documented research suggested that Esben was more interested in noting the damaging effects of silver contact than how to help the inflicted party recover. David once again felt disgust at the sick man's delight in these experiments, not to mention how callously he wrote about them. Esben truly felt these individuals were nothing more than bacteria in petri dishes.

The only thing he found remotely helpful was a mention that giving a werewolf with silver poisoning a lot of food helped give the body a boost of vitamins and minerals to aid the healing factor. Sarah's metabolism and immune system were already taxed and the presence of silver, along with the surgery itself, had taken a lot out of her.

David gently extracted the blanket from her arms and wrapped it around her slender form.

"It's alright," he reassured her as she balked at being picked up. "I'm taking you inside this house so you can rest." He gathered her up and made a beeline for the front door. He placed her on an old bed in one of the rooms.

He went back outside to grab anything he deemed important. He didn't want to risk the papers getting stolen or blowing away. He placed Sarah's clothing in a neat pile on the dresser near the bed.

"Okay Sarah, I'm going to the diner up the road and bring you back food. You must eat even if you feel you can't. Your body is still stronger than the average human and you could hold down the food." It was the only thing he could do, especially since she was in no condition to hunt and the diner was still within walking distance. Though the irony of going into a diner to deliberately get a _doggy_ bag was not lost on him.

"David …" She reached out feebly.

"Don't move too much, okay? You need to rest if you're going to get better." David didn't want her to talk much, either, to conserve her strength. He started to rise from the bed.

"David… wait. There's something…" She looked a bit anxious.

"What is it?" He leaned closer.

"Tasha's been here. Her scent's pretty strong. I also smell that weird scent from the diner, where Hunter had been. It's the plastic smell."

David tensed, alarmed. He recalled the front door had been open, but he'd hoped it was because the house was abandoned and the wind had blown it open. "I'll take a look around and make sure no one's here," he said, giving the back of her hand a squeeze. "I'll be right back," he assured her when it looked like she might protest. "You rest, okay? Doctor's orders." He smiled tiredly.

"...Okay, thank you." she said with great reluctance as he left. Sarah suddenly pitied David and all he'd been through since this started. Now he was going to great lengths to help her when they were still practically strangers and she'd bit him out of her own stubbornness and somewhat selfish behavior. She was glad she made it up to him by jumping in front of that bullet. She just did it to protect him without thinking. Sarah sank deeper into the pillows he'd propped up for her. She had a lot to consider.

David did a brief search inside and even circled around the exterior of the house, noting with some alarm that it looked like a window from the basement had been broken very recently from the inside. He took care to avoid stepping on any glass as he tried to use what little light the full moon provided and peered inside. There appeared to be nothing out of the ordinary, just a lot of junk and old furniture that had been stored long ago.

David went back inside and located the staircase that led to the basement, the door was left wide open. When he reached the bottom of the steps, he came to a second door. He opened it a crack, but something had been pushed up against it from the other side that kept it from opening fully.

He could've sworn he heard shuffling and bravely banged on the door. "Hello! Is anyone in there?"

A woman's very muffled voice shouted in response. "Hunter … Hunter! Is that you?"

"No! It's David!"

"Oh David! It's Tasha! Help me! I'm trapped!"

"Hang on!" David tried putting his full weight against the door, but it still wouldn't budge. "I'll be right there, I'm gonna try the window!" He hurried back up the stairs and went out to the broken window.

Somehow, he managed to get through it with little more than a slight scratch on his arm. He found his balance and took a moment to get his bearings, giving his eyes a moment to readjust. The full moon eerily illuminated the basement.

"David… are you there?" Tasha asked. David looked toward the source of the sound, noticing a small couch that had been moved recently up against a wardrobe.

David gritted his teeth and carefully hefted one end of the couch, moving it just enough for the trapped occupant to squeeze through. "Tasha!" he greeted her with surprise once he could make out her features. He took her hand and helped her maintain balance while she slipped through the opening and climbed over the couch.

Then the two of them pushed away the larger piece of furniture that blocked the door leading into the house. "What happened here? Who did this?" David wanted to know as they began to ascend upstairs.

"It was Hunter," Tasha answered breathlessly. "David, he said he was trying to protect me from himself. I saw the golden glow in his eyes when he trapped me down there." She looked down shyly, and kept silent about the kiss. It wasn't important.

"Golden glow?" David's mind snapped to the memory of how Sarah's eyes looked in wolf form.

Tasha nodded. "Yes. He's a werewolf too. A natural one. Like I mentioned in the diner."

A view of the full moon caught their eye as they neared a living room window. "David," Tasha whispered, "you don't think…?"

"I don't know," was all David said, momentarily transfixed by the clear, stunning view of the moon. "Legends are born from somewhere, aren't they? Did Hunter say anything else?"

"He said that werewolves originated in Europe, but he said little else."

The wheels turned in David's mind, even if some of it seemed unbelievable. "Seems like Hunter wanted to protect you before he transformed… he threw himself out the window. That could indicate he can't control himself while he is in wolf form."

"The only one who has ever shown any level of self-control or self-awareness has been Subject Seven." Tasha instantly regretted her use of the inhuman designation when David shot her a withering look.

"Tasha, _Sarah_ is upstairs and she's hurt. I removed a silver bullet from her. She has a fractured hip bone and an incision that I stitched together the best I could. She needs food, but I would rather not move her."

"Don't you think the diner might be the best place for us to go?" Tasha suggested.

"I don't know if it would be safe for anyone out there with a werewolf on the loose," David stated.

"David, a convention or something's going on in town, that's why there's so many people right now. It's an all-night diner, we could lose ourselves in the crowd, and," Tasha quickly added, as though just thinking of it, "shouldn't we go there just in case the werewolf shows up? It's the only place where a lot of people will be tonight. If Hunter shows up while the full moon's still out, those people might need our help. The only thing that can possibly stop him is you… I mean…the Hulk."

David sighed. It might be better to go to the diner and help keep an eye out. He was the one person so far who was immune to werewolf venom, even if he didn't like the idea of potentially subjecting innocents to the Hulk's rampages or drawing unwanted publicity to himself or Sarah.

But he needed to help Sarah get better. "When are you due back at Esben's lab?" David asked, trying to plan ahead.

"Early tomorrow morning."

"Okay, we can't use your car, so we're gonna have to hoof it to the diner. It'll be risky, but we need to get some food into Sarah and I'd rather chance it than staying here. When we get there, you can call a cab and have it take you as close as you can to the lab while avoiding detection. Then you should return to your quarters before Esben is the wiser."

"And what are _you_ gonna do, David?"

"I'll stay at the diner for the time-being with Sarah and monitor her condition. Come on, we should get moving."

Sarah barely permitted Tasha to help her get dressed, then David wrapped the blanket around the girl once again as he instructed Tasha to pack some things he felt they shouldn't leave behind. This included extra sets of clothes, medical supplies, and Esben's documents. She was squeezed most of it into David's duffle bag, shoving the rest into a spare knapsack. Tasha was tasked with carrying both, while David carried Sarah.

The hike to the diner didn't take too long, even if it was very tense. Almost every shadow, sound, and movement out of the corner of their eyes was enough to make them wonder if they were about to be pounced on, shredded to pieces or eaten alive. They arrived at the diner without incident and managed to secure a booth in the farthest corner away from everyone and David smoothly told a concerned waitress, when asked, that Sarah had the flu and they were on their way home from a doctor's visit. "We just came here to get something to eat because we're too tired to cook," David supplied.

Tasha had plunked David's duffle bag and her knapsack on the seat next to her and sat down. David gently set Sarah down on the opposite seat and sat next to her.

Within minutes, they had a round of food of beverages consisting of coffee, scrambled eggs and bacon for Tasha and David, three rare burgers and water for Sarah. It took a bit of coaxing to get her to eat, but once she started it wasn't long before she eagerly requested seconds… and soon thirds.

David was grateful that he still had cash in his wallet, and that said wallet always remained in his pants pocket even when he changed into the Hulk. Sarah's appetite was a good sign. Her body demanded food to replenish energy and help itself heal. He could only hope that she was getting enough, and that his cash would cover it. The last thing he needed was to get stuck washing dishes in the back.

Tasha quietly finished her meal and then called a cab on the diner's pay phone. She'd already made a tentative agreement with David to meet him the following night at the abandoned house. She put five dollars on the table to help him cover the meals.

David watched her leave when the cab arrived. Part of him disliked the idea of her going off into the middle of nowhere to Esben, considering not only the man's insanity, but also a feral werewolf prowling around. David distrusted Tasha and loathed what she had done to him, but her son was innocent.

David frowned as it quickly vanished from sight. He wasn't sure if he was potentially throwing Tasha to the proverbial wolves or if he was giving a female snake back to Hansen to bite him later. If David wasn't so concerned for the safety of a young child, he would have already made plans to get himself and Sarah out of the state and someplace hidden and safe. For now, he had already promised to keep a tentative eye out for the feral werewolf on behalf of the unaware patrons in the diner and get Sarah enough food to help her recover.

She was still ravenous and he had enough money to afford a few more burgers, this time with vegetables on the side for more vitamins.

It was going to be a long night.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o**

Tasha used the cash she had left to pay the cab driver to drop her off at the end of a dead-end road, in addition to a hefty tip to encourage him not to mention this unusual drop-off point to anyone if asked.

From this location, it was about a half-hour hike to the lab, made worse because she twisted her knee when Hunter had pushed her into the wardrobe. The discomfort became more noticeable the longer she walked, but she endured it.

She finally arrived at the lab entrance, cleverly concealed double doors on the ground that was difficult to find unless one knew to look under the mess of brambles, bushes, and dead tree limbs. She was about to reach for the latch when a loud snarl behind her caused her blood to freeze.

Very slowly, she turned to see one of the things she had feared most. A large, dark grey werewolf. It's golden eyes glowed so bright they made the fur appear black. It snarled, baring a full set of sharp teeth that dripped venom.

Tasha screamed, finding herself unable to move as the beast prepared to leap.

The hatch burst open. She heard Esben's voice shouting, "Get the wolf! GET HIM!"

Tasha was nearly bowled over by two other wolves that burst out from the hatch, a pair of tails brushed her shoulder and cheek as they whipped past her. She found herself unable to budge, as her eyes remained glued to the carnage that ensued close to her. The two smaller werewolves, one chocolate brown and one beige, pounced on the large grey one. Their furs quickly brightened crimson from fresh blood as their claws and teeth engaged in battle.

"GET IN HERE!" Tasha realized that Esben must have said it at least three times when she finally felt his hand tug her arm, pulling her inside. The last thing she saw was the Hunter werewolf viciously ripping the head off of the beige werewolf, putting an end to him with an additional thrust to the chest to slice through vital organs. The sound of crunching ribs could be heard as he finished mutilating that one, and the hatch shut over Tasha's horrified eyes just as the chocolate one leaped onto Hunter's back. Deep down she wanted him to win this battle.

"He'll be fine, Hunter's stronger than all my wolves." Esben muttered more to himself than anyone else as he led Tasha down deeper into the underground facility. "This happened before. The only way to keep him off of my back and away from my staff members is to sacrifice a couple of my expendable rejects. I picked the weakest and clumsiest for him to tear to shreds."

Tasha shuddered. "Esben," she said when she found her voice, "I had no idea Hunter was a werewolf."

"You're only told what you need to know, my dear. And," Esben glared, "I'm seriously starting to question your usefulness here. You allowed Seven to escape and I can't predict what exactly you're up to out there."

Tasha tried to get a grip on herself to spin her latest tale, despite still feeling green around the gills. She swallowed, dispelling Hunter wolf's attack from her mind. "I went out there to see if I could find out where she might have gone-"

Esben held up a hand. "I'm not going to listen to any of this. You'd better tell me the truth, Ms. Pines, or I'll throw you out there to Hunter right now and use your son in my next experiment."

"N-no! _Please_ don't hurt my son!"

Esben barked a short, cruel laugh. "You are really something, you know that? It's a mystery to me how you could stand back and watch so many human subjects be used as test subjects, yet get hyper and protective whenever I mention harming your kid." He drew closer, his eyes narrowed as an evil grin split across his face. "It might be interesting to add him to my experiments, to see just how far a mother's love and devotion can go. Would you still care about your son, if I turned him into a werewolf?"

Esben sat back and laughed as an image of Eddie Munster came to him. "Won't he be so cute?"

"ESBEN DON'T DO IT, I BEG YOU," Tasha shrieked. "I'll tell you everything. I will tell you anything. Just _please don't hurt him!"_

Ebsen folded his arms. "Then _talk_, Ms. Pines."

Tasha drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I want to see my son first." Her voice was somewhat raspy now.

Esben tilted his head to one side. "You tell me everything first, then I'll arrange for you to have a few minutes with him."

There was a moment of silence. Neither of them liked being jerked around, but Esben had to establish his dominance and that he was the one who still held the cards here. Tasha had to accept that once and for all.

Tasha, broken and terrified for her son, told Esben everything. She spoke about the Werewolf legend, including her private discussions with Hunter. She finally revealed how David and Subject Seven would most likely spend the next few hours at a certain diner and gave him the directions.

Esben nodded satisfied. He stared at her carefully, attempting to gauge any future usefulness she might have. She didn't know any more than this, but she also knew far too much. Was she really worth keeping around now?

It hadn't been his best idea to stage a riot that permitted Tasha and Seven to "escape" in the first place. It still had been necessary to gather more information to see how Seven would react, and what she would do, with her perceived freedom. The girl was a somewhat inept social outcast even before all this. Despite her desire for independence she latched onto anyone who would provide for her comforts. That fact Esben discovered immediately after meeting her and enticing her into his experiment. After softening her up with her wants and needs, the girl thought she could get out of the experiments somehow, that she didn't have to keep up her end of the bargain. That was her mistake.

His benefactors warned him to treat her with kid gloves once they saw her positive reactions to the early tests. He may have forgotten to tell them about all his cages and electrical prods. Any spies the benefactors tried to send were caught and met a grisly end. Esben couldn't risk any exposure no matter what these benefactors wanted. He still had his own plans for the venom. At that time, Esben still had Tasha under his thumb and his benefactors wanted to know everything, every scenario with Subject Seven.

Now there were too many unpredictable factors. David Banner and his Hulk creature were in the picture and in his own desperation for a cure he clung to Subject Seven and helped her. Knowing David's empathetic nature, Esben assumed he cared about the girl's welfare, and that he was appalled at the inhumanity of it all. But Esben also knew the scientific mind. David wanted something in return. He wanted a chance to study and examine her wolfism, to somehow derive a cure that would work for both of them. David couldn't help himself. That's what made him such an easy target in the beginning at Culver Institute.

Tasha knew enough to be dangerous. And it seemed she had bonded with the human Dylan Hunter. Esben had warned him way back to not get involved with her in any way other than professional. Esben knew it disgruntled both of them, but Dylan obeyed like the good soldier he once Esben kept Tasha away from him as much as he could. But now Dylan was a loose wolf canon and he hated that a child was put in harm's way.

The fact that Esben still had her son locked up gave him leverage,, but the circumstances had shifted and put him at risk. Tasha had leverage of her own, potentially. Especially if she were permitted to leave again …

Drawing his mind back to the present, Tasha implored him. "Can I see my son now, please?"

She hated begging. She hated to appear weak. But for once, she permitted it to come out, especially if it would convince Esben that she was broken and harmless at this point.

Esben sighed and finally nodded. "Go to your quarters, I'll make the arrangements."

Tasha went back to her quarters like a good girl, keeping her head down all the way and once again sacrificing her pride. True to Esben's word, one of the lab assistants dropped off the boy within the next ten minutes, and left them alone.

"Peter, oh Peter! My baby! " Tasha scooped her son into a warm, secure embrace as though she would never let him go. "Let me look at you. Are you okay, baby?" She brushed his bangs out of his face, they'd grown too long. She settled into a chair, holding him in her lap. He hadn't lost much weight, but he looked pale, and small dark rings marred his eyes. He seemed unharmed otherwise.

What bothered her most was his silence. Peter had always been a bubbly, talkative boy and showed her more affection than she deserved sometimes. But now she barely recognized him. His large blue eyes appeared wan and distant, and Tasha shuddered to think what Peter heard or may have seen. She rubbed his hair in soothing motions, assuring that mommy would never leave him and always protect him. He knew who she was, but his movements felt mechanical, as if he'd forgotten about her and was being asked to hug a stranger.

"Mommy, I want to go home. I don't like it here. I'm scared of the wolves." He suddenly whimpered and wrapped his arms around her. "I want to get out of the … the room. I want to go to school and see my friends."

Tasha hugged him close and kissed his head as tears fell. "Me too, Peter. I want to leave here too." She whispered. It dawned on her how he must've felt like the boy in one of his favorite fairy tales, _Peter and the Wolf._ He'd probably never want to read that one again. She continued to whisper comforting words and rocked him in her lap. They both started to doze off.

Their blissful reunion was interrupted when Tasha heard a noise, causing her head to snap up.

"_What the hell was that?"_


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

Esben was in the process of shutting down everything. He had given the order to his skeleton staff to begin putting silver bullets through the brain and heart of every werewolf that was still contained within the facility, killing them one by one and moving their corpses to the incinerator. He knew that there would always be loose ends, but he would do whatever he could. There were other werewolves out there, including ones who had escaped during the riot, but they wouldn't matter. Let the world deal with them as they saw fit, if they ever became a problem.

Esben had already reported back to his benefactors, giving them all the information he could and even mailing them all of the relevant information that they would find useful and possibly want. But they still wanted Seven, the perfect prototype. He wouldn't receive his full payment until he delivered the final product.

Seven was injured, weak, and probably only beginning to regain some strength at the diner. The only problem was that she currently had David Banner, ala Hulk, as her own personal caretaker and bodyguard. Esben didn't know what triggered the Hulk to come out, but if it was anything like his werewolves he would need to tread lightly. Banner's noble nature made him easy to manipulate, a factor that could be used to elicit his cooperation to a point, but if pushed too far the Hulk would come out.

He went into a small, private office he had in the back of the facility and grabbed a rifle, promptly loading it with a silver bullet. After placing a few spares in his pocket, he went to Tasha's quarters and opened the door.

"Leave," he ordered.

"What?"

"You heard me, Ms. Pines. Take your son and go."

Tasha's eyes widened with surprise, then narrowed suspiciously. "What is your game, Esben?" An apprehensive look crossed her features as her arms tightened protectively around her boy. "Hunter is still out there. Is that it? You want him to kill us!"

Esben rolled his eyes and then smacked the nozzle of the rifle against his palm. "There is a small car located just outside, my car. Here." He tossed the keys at her. "What I want you to do is take the car and get Hunter to chase you toward the diner. Then your precious David will turn into the Hulk and deal with Hunter, while you get away with your kid and I can get away with Seven. We both get what we want, and Banner and Hunter may kill each other and solve a lot of problems. We got a deal?"

Tasha did not like the idea of being used as bait. But this was the one chance to finally get out of this, with her son.

There was no telling what Esben's tricky mind had concocted as a contingency if she said no. She tried to tell herself that maybe it would be better this way. David was a sweet man, but he had become a monster, little different from the werewolves. She tried to concentrate on that fact and block out everything else.

Besides, was it really worth it to listen to her conscience at this point? She had already crossed so many lines, nothing mattered anymore except taking whatever chance she could to get her son to safety. "What are you gonna do, after you have Seven?" she wanted to know.

"What do you think? Take her overseas to my benefactors. When they pay me, I will have enough to set me up for life and I can live in retirement, knowing that I succeeded in what I set out to do despite all of the people who were against me." Esben motioned her. "_Now get going."_

Tasha didn't have to be told twice. She bundled her son up in a blanket, then scooped the keys into her other hand. It was time for not only the chase of her life, but she was also about to hurt and betray Dr. David Banner for the second time in her life…

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

Nothing but feral instinct ruled Hunter as he dealt with the remains of his attackers. They had long since reverted back to their human forms since they were dead, but part of him wasn't satisfied. He had no interest in eating them, but he couldn't resist the urge to tear them apart and crush every bone in their bodies. It helped him work off an angry, bitter edge that he couldn't understand while in this form.

Once he finished, he left nothing behind except for a fleshy, bloodied pile of human mulch. He vaguely remembered there had been some other reason to be here that even his primal mind could subconsciously latch onto. His golden eyes lingered on the barely visible hatch in the ground and a hazy memory of a blonde female.

That was when he noticed a car. It pulled up close enough to invade his personal space, then screeched horribly as it tore off in a different direction.

He threw back his head and let out a thunderous howl. It was the blonde woman. She was real and he wanted her.

The dark gray wolf began to give chase.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

Tasha gritted her teeth and slammed the gas pedal hard, picking up speed after giving the feral werewolf an incentive to chase the car. Her son was strapped in right beside her in the passenger seat, half-asleep. She could only hope that this vehicle would be fast enough to stay ahead of the feral werewolf and solid enough to withstand punishment when she would have to stop at the diner.

She had originally considered placing her son in the trunk but had quickly nixed that idea. It wouldn't do to have a small child back there where he could possibly get hurt in any number of ways, plus there was a chance that the werewolf would simply rip open the trunk to get to him. No, she needed him up front, right next to her. That way, if worst came to worst, she could throw herself at the creature if it meant keeping him safe.

For now, all she could do was keep increasing speed and hope to God that the desert landscape remained flat and manageable for high speeds. She _had_ to get to that diner.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

It wasn't until Sarah consumed her sixth burger (with the side order of mixed vegetables David scolded her to eat) that her regeneration ability began to fully kick in. David saw the improvement when color returned to her cheeks and neck, and her eyes grew more focused and alert.

"How are you feeling now?" David asked her. He wanted to check her for fever or chills but didn't dare touch her. If she'd felt either way she would tell him.

"Better," was all she said.

"Any fever? Chills?"

"Just normal…whatever that is for me these days." Sarah sat up a little straighter and shed the blanket, narrowing her eyes briefly at him before folding her hands together on the tabletop and focusing on them instead.

David ignored her suspicious faces. "Do you still feel any pain?"

"A little."

"It will take more time for the wound to heal. Are you still hungry?" David felt he could possibly afford one more meal or two if it came to that. He also tried to use her hunger pangs as a gauge on how quickly her body recovered from the silver poisoning.

"A little," she echoed stiffly.

"Would you like another burger?"

"Yes … Please. But no more vegetables."

David rolled his eyes and smirked. "As long as you ate some. You need _all _the essential nutrients. Not just meat proteins." He placed the order and peered at her over his steepled fingers. "Are you sure you're alright?"

"Yes, David." she answered more sharply than she should have. Sarah sighed and rose abruptly, her grimace made it clear her hip still hurt a lot, but at least she was on her own two feet.

David immediately rose, his hand out and ready to help her if she started to fall. "Where are you going?"

She pushed away from the booth and limped past the table. "I just need to use the bathroom, OK?"

"Be careful," David took her hand and placed his other hand around her arm, securing his grip despite her resistance. "Sarah, you might feel better but you shouldn't overdo it yet. Your wound could trip you up. Come on, the restroom is this way."

They passed the waitress on the way. David told her to put the food on their table and that they'd be back soon. When they reached the restroom, Sarah stopped and gave him an annoyed glance, wondering if he'd accompany her in there.

"Of course, I'll wait out here," David told her as he released her arm. He held her hand until she disappeared through the door. Sarah seemed healthier overall, although he wished he could do an X-Ray examination on her hip. He sighed and checked their table while waiting. He wouldn't rush her, since her metabolism just picked up, it might've kick-started her digestion too. He couldn't be too sure how wolfism affected that aspect of daily living and he knew Sarah would be too embarrassed to discuss it at this point. He just hoped that her injury wouldn't cause her to fall.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

Esben Hansen deliberately lingered behind within the safe confines of the lab, giving Tasha a good head start to lead the beast away. People were going to die tonight, but the only thing he cared about was recapturing Seven and getting her to his benefactors. With luck, Hunter and Banner's alter ego would kill each other, or Esben himself could put a silver bullet through both their brains while they were engaged with each other.

Still, it was too much to hope that everything could go _that_ smoothly. He could only hope that Seven was still in a weakened state and that she would come along quietly. It might have been a mistake to assume that though, especially since she was still with Banner who was a highly skilled physician…

Esben took a few more minutes to make certain everything had been attended to within his lab, and that what little remained of his lingering, skeleton staff were doing the things he had assigned them to do. All of the remaining werewolf experiments were dead now, their bodies incinerated.

None matter now except Lucky Subject Seven, the only one who turned out just right. Perhaps he should have designated her Goldilocks…

He snatched up a couple of briefcases that contained anything he deemed worth grabbing and double-checked to make certain everything else had either been incinerated. It was now time to do the last deed he had to do here, an ugly business but it would take care of any loose ends.

One thing that no one knew when they started working here was that a powerful explosive had been rigged by Esben himself. Only he knew exactly where the detonator was. Esben double-checked everything, making certain his staff members were still deep within the building performing their final, assigned tasks. Those people thought they would be leaving with fat paychecks after this was over, having been promised a generous portion of whatever Esben got from his overseas benefactor when they signed up. Esben, however, had no intention of sharing or cutting loose anyone who knew too much.

Esben activated the detonator, giving it a ten minute delay to give himself time to reach safety. No alarms went off, nothing to indicate that anything was about to happen within the facility. He carried the suitcases at a brisk pace, double-checking the powerful rifle and the silver bullets he had placed in his pocket as he went, satisfied.

Three minutes after he exited the building, he heard the chain of explosions that went off, one right after another. He slowly turned to see the ground caving in where he knew the facility to be, followed by the secret hatch tumbling in after it.

They were far too remote for anyone to hear the explosion or witness it in any way. He felt that, the way he had rigged the structure to collapse, anyone within would have been crushed to a pulp, particularly since he had intentionally assigned them to areas where they would either get caught in one of the numerous detonations directly, or be right in the way when key areas of structural collapse came down on top of them.

If anyone had survived, they were probably too injured to last long now.

Esben permitted himself a long, final glance, then turned his back on the sight of it with his head held high. He knew where he had parked a spare vehicle, hidden nearby, and it was time to pursue his quarry.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o**

Sarah did not really need to use the bathroom, she was just desperate for privacy. She no longer had a bedroom that she could slip into and snap the door shut, nor did she have her familiar forest in which to run off and hunt. She did have to admit to herself that being with David in these conditions was much better than being locked up inside a lab at the mercy of Hansen's whims, but….

Was she truly free? Would she ever be free?

This was the first time she'd had to be alone with her thoughts. It seemed like she might as well have signed her soul over to the devil when she agreed to submit to Hansen's experiments. _Even when Tasha helped me 'escape',_ she reminded herself, _it was just a trick._

A paranoid edge rose up inside when she saw, in her mind's eye, David still standing just outside the restroom for her to come back out. Like one of the guards back at the lab, or Esben himself ready to tell her where she had to go next or that she had to submit to some injection…

Sarah shuddered, wrapping her arms around herself and sitting on the floor of her stall, ignoring the moderate discomfort in her thigh. At least that discomfort continued to wane, slowly. Still, she knew she couldn't stay in the bathroom stall forever.

Deep down, she was angry at her dad for dying and her mom for going into a coma, even if it wasn't their fault. They wouldn't have chosen to go, and the true one to blame was the drunk driver if he wasn't dead, too. She was angry at her brother for taking off and seemingly not caring about her or their mother.

She was even angry at God for letting it all happen. Where was God in any of this, anyway?

She was angry at Esben for everything. At Tasha for her trickery and self-centered motives. At David…

She frowned. Was it right to be mad at David? If it wasn't for him she would be lying in a pool of her own blood, probably dead from the silver bullet. He had also gotten her enough food to help her finish healing.

It would be so easy to find a way to give David the slip, especially since she didn't owe anyone anything… Or did she? She _had_ promised David to help find that damned kid, to prove she still had more humanity in her than wolf.

Taking a deep breath, she stood and inched her way toward the door, prepared to return to David and sit down for one final burger before leaving with him.

When she stepped out, however, she was surprised to find he wasn't there. She quickly spotted him standing next to their booth, talking to someone. She focused her sensitive hearing and overheard snatches of conversation. It seemed that a waitress had mistakenly tried to clear off the table and the seats because the young woman innocently thought the patrons seated there had left.

David was busy picking up some of the papers and documents. The knapsack had spilled when the waitress picked it up. He politely dismissed her, saying he would take care of it, and diligently began to put the papers into neat piles and put them back in the bag.

Sarah noticed something shiny out of the corner of her eye, a simple quarter that had been dropped near the diner's pay phone. Suddenly, feeling an impulse grip her, she inched her way toward the phone and stooped down to snatch it up.

Did she really want to do this, though? She picked up the receiver and hesitated, tightening her grip around it as she thought hard about it for a moment. She bit down on her lower lip and plunked the quarter into the slot before she could change her mind. Then she then used her index finger to peck in a number she had memorized only because she used to call it every single day, back when she held some hope for good news before giving up and turning herself over to Esben…

"_Hello, this is the Patson Care Center. May I help you?"_

Sarah felt her throat constrict. Her shoulder muscles tightened when she sensed David come up near her. She detected him not by sight, but by his scent and her sensitive ears picking up his footfalls. He stood quiet behind her, though she could feel his inquisitive gaze on her.

"Yes," Sarah finally answered at the second prompt. "I-I'm just calling to ask about my mother, Laura Holtan. I wanted to know if there's been any change in her condition?"

David had moved around to the side of the payphone. He left some distance between them, but leaned against the wall and folded his arms. He never took his eyes off of her.

Sarah gazed in his direction briefly while she was asked to hold. Part of her wished he would go away. Somehow though, another part of her wished for a hand to hold. David saw a hint of fear in her eyes as she bit her lip nervously.

"_Miss Holtan?"_

"Yes, I'm here." she answered quickly.

Sarah became stone-still when she received the update. The color drained from her face.

David reached out and caught the receiver right before she dropped it. "Sarah?" He touched her arm. "What's happening? What did they say?" She couldn't answer him. She barely even looked at him, as a shock coursed through her and almost completely shut her down. The Doctor on the phone repeatedly called out for her.

"Ah, yes, hello, I'm David Banes, a friend of Miss Holtan," David said into the receiver. "Could you please tell me what the message was?"

"_Hello, Mr. Banes. Unfortunately Miss Holtan's mother passed away about three weeks ago. There were some unforeseen complications due to her comatose state. She died peacefully in her sleep. We're sorry she had to find out this way, we assumed her brother told her the news."_

"Um, no. She hasn't heard from him, but she was … out of the country." David's eyes locked sharply onto Sarah's. His fingers tightened around her arm, not liking what he saw on her face, partially turned away. She had a teary, animalistic anger in her golden eyes, mixed with sadness in her quivering mouth. He quickly thanked the Doctor and hung up. Sarah tore her arm away from him and stalked off.

"Sarah, wait!" David went after her, knowing he had to keep her calm and get through to her, especially here. Either that or get out _fast._

David hesitated as he passed their booth. He snatched up the duffle bag and knapsack and did quick math in his head. He handed several bills to the waitress when he passed her again, telling her to keep the change as a tip.

He rushed out after Sarah, fearing she might transform. She was visibly upset and deeply affected by the awful news. "Sarah, let's talk for a minute." David did his best to stay close, noting that she walked without any trace of a limp now. He tried to take her hand. "Sarah, please-"

She stopped and whirled around, giving him the first good chance to look directly into her face. In spite of himself, David flinched and almost took a step back when he saw the beginnings of a transformation, but he held his ground. "Sarah." He kept his tone quiet, level, but firm. "You need to remain calm. You cannot change here."

She gritted her teeth and placed her hands on either side of her head, grunting as though straining. She was a hairline away from transforming and David was one of the few people on the planet who knew what that felt like. Trying to hold the beast in when pain or rage overtook you.

He quickly set the knapsack and duffle bag down and put his hands on her shoulders. "It's alright, I'm here. Keep the wolf inside you, Sarah. I know you can do it. Lock the wolf away. Now, Sarah." He coaxed mildly. "You hold the keys, Sarah, not the wolf."

Sarah tensed for a moment longer, then jolted as though a taut string inside of her had been cut. Her expression softened from feral to a deep, childlike hurt.

David murmured praise to her softly and took her into his arms as tears streamed down her cheeks.

"It's alright. You did it. You're strong Sarah, even without the wolf. This is going to hurt you for a long while, but you can pull through. I know you can. You're doing fine."

For a long moment he just held her, allowing her to let out her grief against his shoulder, knowing she needed this.

His arms tightened slightly around her when he thought of how deeply it had affected him when his own mother died. It was an ancient wound now, but this made it feel fresh all over again.

Just as her trembling and quiet sobs began to cease, David's head snapped up to see a car headed rapidly in their direction, closely followed by a ferocious, dark-furred beast snapping at the car's back fender. The hairs on Sarah's arms raised as the volatile presence of another werewolf attacked her and she swung around.

… _Damn!_


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

The sound of screeching tires filled the air as Tasha drove the vehicle through the center of the parking lot and moved past David and Sarah.

David managed to catch a glimpse of a small child in the front seat next to Tasha, then redirected his attention toward the feral werewolf running after the car. He tried to think fast. This was the absolute worst place for this to be happening, especially with the diner right behind them. There were so many innocent people here...

The dark werewolf seemed content with chasing the moving vehicle for the moment, as Tasha drove around in circles. David gritted his teeth and snatched the duffle bag and knapsack off the ground. "Sarah, I want you to take these and stay in the diner," David instructed her. "No matter what happens, stay in there."

"What about you?" Sarah's tear-stained face had cleared somewhat and she surveyed the entire scene with alarm.

"I'm going to try and help Tasha and her son. Sarah, I need you to keep these papers safe and I need you to stay in the diner."

For a moment it appeared she might protest, but then she finally went back inside. She then saw David moving across the parking lot, unsure what he was planning to do. He probably wasn't even sure. It then occurred to Sarah that this would be a good opportunity to run if she was ever going to… but she had committed herself to helping David save that kid.

She gripped the knapsack and duffle bag and made a beeline for the restroom. She entered one of the roomy stalls and slammed the door shut, locked it, then hung the duffle bag on the hook usually intended for coats. She then put the lid down on the toilet and plunked the knapsack on top of it.

Leaving the stall locked, she dropped down on the floor and slithered out from under it, finding just barely enough space to accomplish this. She supposed she could thank her rapid metabolism for one thing: it always kept her skinny. If anything, she was a bit thinner than normal due to her recent injury and the surgery.

Once she got back to her feet, she gave the stall door one last look, making a mental note which one it was, then hoped that no one would bother it until she or David could return for their bags.

She returned to the front entrance and looked out, only to gasp in horror at what she saw. A small crowd had formed just outside to watch what was going on, although many of the patrons remained indoors and looked out the windows.

The car had stopped and David was wrestling with the werewolf the best he could.

If she didn't do something fast, David was going to turn into the green creature or the werewolf was going to kill him… possibly both.

She didn't want to transform in front of witnesses, so she ran toward the back and hoped she would find relative privacy to make a quick transformation. After that, she could run around the building toward the front and… maybe do something to help.

However, just as she set foot outside the back door, a very familiar scent filled her nostrils, hitting her like a slap to the face. In the next instant, she heard the sound of a rifle cocking.

"My dear Subject Seven."

She turned very slowly to see Dr. Esben Hansen, pointing a large rifle directly at her. "As you may have guessed, this is loaded with a silver bullet. I just want you to come along quietly, and everything will be fine. If you don't, I will have to subdue you, painfully."

Sarah remained frozen to the spot. What was she going to do now?

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

Tasha slammed the breaks when David began to draw nearer, just to have the werewolf rip off the back fender, bite it several times like the world's biggest chew toy, and then toss its mangled remains. It clattered across the parking lot.

The werewolf moved swiftly around to the front of the car, breaking the window on the driver's side effortlessly with a thrust of his front paw as Tasha shrank back and screamed.

David quickly moved up behind the werewolf and threw his arms around its neck and shoulders, trying to pull it away from the car. Tasha climbed awkwardly across the seats, lifting her shocked son while reaching for the opposite door to get out.

Sharp claws slashed across David's arm and he cried out in pain. A small part of his brain reminded him that he was immune to werewolf venom, though that didn't provide much assurance. Panic rose sharply. He could still get ripped to pieces before he even transformed.

The werewolf reached up and grabbed David, sinking claws into his flesh to get a better grip, then tore him off and threw him across the parking lot against the windshield of a nearby car.

David's eyes turned white before he rolled off of the hood of the car.

The werewolf then remained motionless, sniffing the air, as though momentarily uncertain what it was doing or which target it wanted to go after. There were many human scents filling the air, including the ones it had originally been after.

One human scent nearby seemed particularly interesting, a scent that sparked a feeling of deep anger within the werewolf.

Reacting on impulse, he charged around the building on all fours around the restaurant building. There stood a familiar young woman and a man brandishing a rifle. He seemed to be the source of whatever anger churned within the werewolf. The girl shrieked as the werewolf pushed past her, A shot was quickly fired before the feral beast could reach the man.

Esben took three hasty steps back as the werewolf faltered. The bullet had grazed his arm, and the sharp sting of silver contact caused the wolf to hesitate.

Swearing under his breath at his own inability to aim, Esben fumbled with the silver bullets in his pocket and quickly put another one back in the rifle. He barely had a chance to raise his rifle again when a different werewolf, one with white-silvery fur, made an appearance after freshly transforming. The white wolf grabbed the rifle, initiating a brief wrestling extracted the weapon from him and warped it like a pretzel.

The dark werewolf recovered and pounced on Esben, and his claws embedded deep into him.

Sarah's bright, golden eyes watched the scene with an intense mix of emotions as she mindlessly twisted the rifle between her hand-like paws. She inhaled the metallic blood scent and the awful sound of fangs ripping soft flesh and crunching human bones. Esben was barely alive long enough to feel anything, but he'd experienced the terror of being partially eaten before succumbing to his fate.

The silvery-white wolf did not move or make a peep. She refused to intervene. She could only stare in horror, knowing this was what she could have become if she hadn't been a lucky, scientifically modified version that retained her human identity. Unlike this werewolf, she would always have the willpower to overcome the beast within her.

The dark wolf finished his meal, leaving nothing behind except a pile of clothing and human pulp on the ground. A big green creature came around to join them. The dark wolf straightened to his full height and raised his bloodied snout to give an ear-splitting howl as if to honor the full moon. He cut loose with a renewed burst of energy.

The Hulk roared, which only served to irritate the dark wolf and interrupt his victory. Before Hunter could attack, however, Sarah threw the twisted rifle at the back of his head, where it bounced off harmlessly and went flying in another direction.

It only served to irritate Hunter, and initiated a full brawl between him and Sarah complete with snarls and teeth and claws flashing as fur literally flew. The Hulk tried to break them up. He snarled and grabbed Hunter by the scruff of the neck. Hunter howled and the Hulk threw him through one of the diner's windows.

A stampede of patrons screamed as everyone rushed to get out and far away from the monstrous brawl as possible. Some patrons puked and others fainted and had to be carried after witnessing Hunter tear into Esben.

Hulk smashed through the door sending glass, wood and metal fragments flying in all directions. The dark wolf snarled and leaped onto the Hulk, clawing him, but the green creature gave him a shove that sent him crashing into a row of tables.

Sarah inched her way into the diner, unsure what to do at this point. The innocent bystanders had already vacated the premises. The only brave soul who remained appeared to be the owner of the establishment. He ducked behind the counter to make a call to the authorities.

For the next few minutes, Hulk and the Hunter-Wolf engaged in an animalistic competition over who could roar or snarl the loudest, and who could throw or knock the other across the room with the most force. The dark wolf tore up booths, chairs, and ripped the counter apart in an attempt to move around faster and gain the upper hand against the Hulk. The green giant hefted and ripped up anything else from metal napkin holders to ketchup bottles to throw it at the furry beast.

It wasn't long before the diner owner fled through the kitchen, leaving Sarah to watch the demolition of the diner's interior from the doorway. Part of her wondered if she should try to intervene. Surely they would knock eventually or wear themselves out.

She felt cowardly, but she also had no interest in getting herself injured. These two seemed to be holding their own even as they did everything possible to try and crush each other.

Sarah suddenly remembered Tasha. The fighting super-beings didn't notice her at all as she slipped out the door and ran around to the parking lot. Most of the cars were gone, including the vehicle that Tasha had used.

So what now? Here she was, standing in the middle of the lot in full wolf mode, with no place to go, and over a dozen witnesses had seen the supernatural shitstorm 's altered form still danced around with the furious Hunter-wolf as they wrestled or found ways to break anything else left untouched in the diner.

Sarah's eyes widened at the sound of multiple sirens rapidly approaching. Thinking quickly, she permitted herself to return to human form and she boldly marched into the diner, not even trying to protect her modesty as she made a beeline for the restroom. She ducked as Hunter was tossed over her head like a ragdoll through the kitchen's swinging doors, but she successfully reached her stall and crawled under it to reach the bags.

She yanked a shirt and pair of pants out of the knapsack and dressed in record time, then she bolted into the main area of the diner, trying not to trip over the debris.

"DAVID!" she yelled.

The green creature looked in her direction, confused. Hunter lay on the kitchen floor, dazed from hitting his head upon impact.

"David, come on! We gotta go!" Sarah gestured at the bags in her hands and clumsily toward the door, hoping he would take a hint. The sound of sirens pulled into the lot, which seemed to jolt something in the creature. He walked through the debris, crunching some under his big feet as he went, until he neared Sarah.

"Let's go," Sarah raised her arms, while maintaining a firm grip on the duffle bag as she permitted the Hulk to scoop her up and carry her out of the diner. She had no idea where he was going, but at least it'd be far from there.

Not long after the two of them were well out of sight, the Hunter werewolf finally picked himself up off the floor, holding his head. When the astounded police arrived, surrounding the place, he opened his mouth wide and snarled at them, just to find himself being shot by multiple rifles.

Being severely worn down after his fight with the Hulk, and not interested in becoming a swiss cheese wolf, Hunter released a howl and launched himself through the only window that had otherwise remained untouched until now. Hunter ran so fast in his wolf form that he managed a clean getaway, even as a couple of officers pursued him in their vehicles. He had the home field advantage of high-speed mobility, and his beastly adrenaline was in full fight-or-flight mode.

That night Hunter disappeared. He'd only sustained a few injuries from minor bullet wounds. Fortunately for him, they weren't silver.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

Jack McGee was used to seeing property damage whenever he visited any place where the Hulk had been sighted. This was a rare instance that caused even him to go bug-eyed once he saw it up close.

Usually the Hulk tossed a couple of very heavy objects around. He might leave a few injuries on the guilty parties, and then smash through a wall or door. This area had not only been surrounded by police and cordoned off like a crime scene, it looked like two Hulks had gone to war with each other inside.

Jack remembered the incident a few years back, where a second Hulk had been discovered. Even that didn't cause such damage and mayhem. He had personally witnessed the death of the other one, but was it possible there were more of them?

Jack spoke to several witnesses before and after being forced to leave the diner by the police, unsure what to think of the newest information. A lot of people claimed to have seen two creatures before fleeing, a dark gray wolf-like creature and the larger green creature he knew was the Hulk.

According to what little Jack gleaned from one of the more approachable officers, the second creature had still been there when the authorities arrived and fled the area when police opened fire. They had patrols combing the desert for any sign of either creature, but they hadn't found anything yet.

The Hulk was, and would always be, an uncontrollable and destructive force of nature that needed to be found and stopped. But Jack knew that the man who became the Hulk, John Doe, had the capacity to blend in and make friends no matter where he went. A rather likeable fellow, considering how many people he got close to clammed up whenever Jack tried to press them for information, including people who could have told him a lot.

Jack decided he'd write what he had observed with his own eyes and a witness account about the wolf-like creature and Hulk. He only had pictures of the damage. He also snapped a few of the deep claw marks that ripped the stuffing out of chairs and slashed across tables. They corroborated eyewitness accounts.

It was possible that the other beast was an anomaly, something that might never show up again. He couldn't ignore what so many eye-witnesses said and he also couldn't ignore the excessive damage he'd seen with his own eyes.

Jack would remain in the area for a couple more days to see what he could find. It was most likely that his quarry had moved on, as usual, but maybe he'd learn more about the wolf.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

A small team of professionals had been monitoring Esben and his activities for some time, working directly for the overseas benefactor who wanted a wolfman army. A couple of them had even worked directly under him in his underground facility, posing as passive and naive workers while secretly reporting to their true boss.

Those individuals had been fully aware of the explosives placed around the facility, and they had known when Esben set them to detonate. They had long since planned for such a contingency, and they had fled via their own escape routes, leaving everyone and everything else left behind to be blown up or crushed.

They had discreetly followed Esben toward Subject Seven, hoping they could capture the prototype since that would make everything so much easier, even if they had successfully extracted copies of his research. They didn't get too close to the diner, although they were well aware of everything that took place there. They had arrived completely unnoticed, and they had departed just before the police and firemen began to arrive in droves.

The team did attempt to pursue their quarry while steering clear of the police, though they didn't ever find the green creature or Seven. Overall, they weren't interested in the green giant and they probably would have tried to kill him just to get at Seven if nothing else. However, they managed to find Dylan Hunter just as the sun rose. He was lying passed out on the ground near a lake. His large body buck-naked in human form, with lightly bleeding bullet wounds that were slowly healing.

A brief deliberation ensued between the team. Should they kill him, or try to take him alive?

After a quick call to their boss, they bound him up and took him. They would arrange to have any bullets or shrapnel removed from his body, and have him transferred out of the country later that day. The full moon would be back to a crescent that night so they wouldn't have to deal with another wild transformation.

This was not the werewolf the boss wanted, but there was something valuable to be found in a genuine, natural Werewolf. The chance to test unaltered wolf venom and start over with pure experiments. It was better than leaving the scene empty-handed, and their boss had the space and resources to keep him contained.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

Sarah snored softly, her head tilted as she slept soundly. Thankfully, the Hulk had deposited them someplace close to a small farm area, where a couple of the locals didn't mind letting them lounge in the barn for a couple of days. The couple who owned the farm believed they were just a couple of passersby who were down on their luck, which wasn't entirely inaccurate. They didn't mind having a couple of strangers stay long enough to get some rest, though they made it clear David and Sarah couldn't stay for more than a week. David assured them they would be moving on by the next weekend.

Sleeping on a pile of hay wasn't the worst place David had spent a night. He had even offered to help out in any way he could around the farm while Sarah rested. Mr. Hendel, a man in his sixties who owned the property and ran the farm, said he would probably find something for David to do soon.

Sarah seemed to be recovering nicely, though she had been sleeping heavily for hours already. He didn't doubt that the rest was needed after all she had been through over the last couple of days, and sleep was another thing needed to aid in her body's regeneration. David would keep his word and at least help out with anything the Hendels' asked him to do within reason and permit her to rest. David had excused her by saying, on her behalf, that she was recovering from the flu and had sustained a hairline bone fracture that was almost healed.

Throughout the day, David kept a distant eye on her while he helped a few of the farm hands finish constructing a small shed they had been working on for several days. He then helped the Hendels move a couple of pieces of furniture in their house. They were apparently getting a few new pieces to replace some that were old and worn, especially since their youngest child had finally grown old enough to graduate and move out on his own.

Once the last of their five children moved out, they explained during a lunch break, they would use some of their savings to give their place an overhaul and make it look nicer when their future grandchildren would come to visit someday.

At the end of the day, David took a little time to start a fire in a designated camping area a short distance from the Hendels' house, using it to destroy the documents. He had read them as best he could one final time, but he already knew many important things from them, and he deemed them too dangerous to keep around. He simply couldn't trust himself to hang onto anything when there was always a chance he could become the Hulk and lose it all.

These were things that couldn't fall into the wrong hands.

Once he was satisfied that the papers had been completely burned, he scattered the ashes. He then painstakingly put out the fire with dirt, water, then dirt again… lather, rinse and repeat twice, as he had been taught on a camping trip with some other boys when he was a child.

Then he returned to the barn, where he found Sarah stirring.

It had been a long day and he was worn out, but he felt it was best to check on his patient first. "Hey, how are you feeling?" he asked as he sat next to her on her hay pile.

She looked a little annoyed as she picked a large strand of straw out of her hair. "Dusty, and I smell like a barn."

David flashed a small smile. "Well, it was the best I could get for us and you needed rest. They would have offered us something indoors, but the house they have for their farm hands is full and they ah… didn't want to risk catching your flu by letting us stay in their house."

"So _that's_ what you told them I have," Sarah grunted.

David gave a slight shrug. "I think this is better anyway. You have shown that you have the potential to control this, Sarah, but I would feel better if you stayed in here… just in case."

"Well, this is still better than being locked up in a lab somewhere."

"Yeah."

"Is there anything to eat?"

David reached into the nearby knapsack and pulled out a sandwich, as though anticipating that question. "There's a few more here, made by Mrs. Hendell herself. I was waiting until you woke up to give you some."

"Thank you." She smiled with gratitude as she sat up and began to eat.

David waited quietly for the most part until she had eaten all of the sandwiches, trying to make her more comfortable with some light small talk, then he decided it was time to get serious.

"Sarah, we should probably discuss what's going to happen after we leave here."

Sarah looked him dead in the eye, clearly dreading where this was going. "Okay."

"Do you know what you want to do?"

Sarah frowned at the question. "I haven't thought that far ahead yet."

David nodded thoughtfully, but remained serious. "We're allowed to stay here at least until next weekend. I agreed to do work around the property in exchange for food and the place to stay."

"Such as it is."

"Hmm," David glanced around the barn, even if it was relatively clean. Mr. Hendall had mentioned that it once held three dairy cows and two horses, but they were sold several months ago. Otherwise, the barn would have been a lot more unpleasant.

"The fact remains," David went on, "you need to think seriously about what you intend to do when we leave."

"What the hell do you think I can do, David?" Sarah sat up further. "I was dumb when I handed myself over to Esben Hansen, but I did it because I had nothing else and nowhere to turn."

David sighed. At least she realized her mistake. But that didn't mean she got a free pass. A small part of David hated himself for what he had to say next, but it still needed to be said.

"Sarah, from the way I see it, you didn't _try_ anything else. You were used to a safe and easy life and when tragedy struck, you went to the first promise you received where you could have all of your needs met. And," he gestured at her, "this is the price you paid."

He could tell he had upset her. Sarah's mouth tightened and she turned away fast, sending the straw flying.

"Don't you think I know that? I was gullible, okay? I know, I'm stupid." She muttered.

"Hey." David softened his tone and gently touched her arm. She flinched, but permitted the touch even if she didn't look at him. "I'm sorry. I never said you were stupid. We don't need to talk about this tonight, but you'll have to think about it and take action soon."

Sarah kicked more hay around. "I have no idea what to do with myself. Maybe I should just live life as a wolf."

David shook his head. "No. You're not a wolf, Sarah. You're a human being who was forcibly turned into a monster."

"You don't have to remind me."

"I remind myself of that everyday. And now I know it wasn't wholly my fault I became the Hulk. But imagine If I just chose to be furious all the time and somehow stayed as the Hulk? That'd be terrible for everybody. You have … you have a gift. You can handle your wolfism, you can think and reason like a human, but there's danger to be found in the woods too. You're used to a life of comfort. You'll never have that as a werewolf."

Sarah sighed and crossed her arms. "Fine. It was a dumb idea anyway. We can just travel around then. Figure it out as we go along."

Sarah seemed to brighten up at the thought and David stared at her wryly. She was looking for someone else to cling to. But it couldn't be him. He couldn't watch out for her long term, since he had his own big problems to contend with. He changed the subject.

"I'd like to examine you now, Sarah. It's necessary to see how you're coming along." He had given her a brief check-up upon their arrival, but a more thorough one was in order.

Sarah rolled her eyes and pushed his hand away. She glared at him. "Not now."

"Then when, Sarah?" David met her stubborn gaze firmly, but spoke kindly. "You should know by now I'm not going to hurt you. I need to check you for any lingering silver poison and make sure the injury is healing properly."

"Fine, do whatever you need to do." Sarah grunted.

"Alright, first I need you to lie back, okay?" David said.

"Just as long as I don't have to take my clothes off or anything, _okay?_" Sarah insisted.

David sighed. "I need to examine your hip and thigh."

He noted the incision was sealed, which meant it was time to remove the stitches. He had her move her leg in different positions, gently and slowly, to confirm that there were no internal complications or pain.

David used a pair of disinfected nail clippers to snip the dental floss he'd used for stitches, then gently pulled it out of her skin. He had to remind her a few times to stay still when she squirmed, but she mostly cooperated.

When he was satisfied, he offered her the last sandwich at the bottom of the knapsack along with a bottle of water. Then, sensing that she needed personal space, he left the barn to take a rest.

David sat in an old, rickety chair just outside the barn door, gazing up at the heavens. He almost laughed. All he needed was a corn-pipe and banjo. He eased back into the chair, slowly rocking, and closed his eyes.

Sarah would definitely have a long road ahead of her and he'd do whatever he could. But how much could he really do, apart from making sure she recovered and helping her to get started on a new life, when he barely had a life of his own?

They had a similar condition, but he couldn't be responsible for someone else when he had enough trouble controlling his own inner demon. Sarah had one advantage, and that was her ability to morph at will. She had even shown promise in her ability to stop a transformation from happening.

David felt he could try to work with her for a time after they left this place. They just needed to go where they could have space and privacy. It would depend on a variety of factors.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

"Ma'am? Are you alright?"

Tasha realized she had been staring into space too long. "Yes," she acknowledged, moving up to claim her luggage from the conveyor belt. "Sorry." She smiled. "Jet lag."

She had just arrived in Canada, after a long flight with Peter. He was slowly returning to his cheerful self and bounced up and down in the chair as he gazed out the window and pretended Superman was there. It warmed Tasha's heart.

Tasha had taken very little with her, but it was enough to start a new life. She desperately hoped to seek out her brother and his wife, even though she hadn't been in touch with them for years.

It was a gamble, but hopefully it would be worth it. Tasha could never go back to the life she'd originally had. Not now. There were also a number of people she desperately wanted to hide away from.

Hopefully, she could live here simply and find a job in her field, maybe as a regular medical Doctor's assistant, or lab technician, and raise her son in relative peace. She wanted nothing more than to live a normal life from now on, having nothing to do with secret laboratories, scientific experiments, or werewolves.

Dylan Hunter flitted across her mind along with his intense kiss and a nagging "What if?" He was too far gone, too disturbed emotionally and physically now for them to even think of a normal life together. She hoped wherever he was that he was safe. They had far too much blood on their hands. Maybe they deserved each other in that way, but she couldn't think of him now.

Tasha would simply focus on raising her son, and guarding him with her life.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

The next four days went by in a blur, with David continuing to help out around the farm and checking in on Sarah to make sure she got enough to eat. Mrs. Hendell checked in on her periodically too, asking how she was doing and whether she would feel up to moving around soon.

On the beginning of the fifth day, David privately but openly called Sarah out on playing up the illness card to continue lounging around the barn without doing anything. With Mrs. Hendell's permission, she ended up taking a nice long shower and changing into a fresh set of clothes.

Shortly after, Sarah began to help Mrs. Hendell in the kitchen and, begrudgingly, helped around the house by cleaning the bathroom and cleaning up a few of the long-neglected bedrooms. After that, though, Mrs. Hendell awarded her with a chance to stay in her daughter's former bedroom.

That left Sarah in a much better mood, until she found out that David had already been given one of the other bedrooms of the house two days prior.

Sarah didn't say much of anything, though she had a slightly prissy and aloof attitude throughout dinner, despite being invited to join the Hendells and David at the dinner table. After dinner, when she and David helped clear the table and wash the dishes, David confronted her about her attitude while the Hendells rested on their back porch.

"Alright, what's the matter, Sarah?"

She tried to ignore him, turning her full attention to scrubbing the dishes and making more noise than necessary with the water and clinking utensils, but she couldn't tune him out forever. He offered to dry, and he wasn't going to budge.

"Sarah, if you are going to function in the world, you can't keep acting like this. Nobody will put up with it. If you have a problem, let's hear it."

She finally looked at him, and soap suds oozed onto her shirt. "Why is it that you were offered a room in the house yesterday, and this is the first I've heard about it? And why you and not me?"

David answered, "Because Mrs. Hendell said that she felt I'd proven myself as a good worker, and she felt that she could trust me not to steal. A standard precaution, because I'm a stranger. She felt I deserved guest accommodations since, unlike her farm hands, I'm not being paid a salary and I'd be leaving very soon.

"And," David went on, "I asked her yesterday if you could stay in the house, but she insisted she wanted to wait one more day to see if your, _ah_, illness got better. She has a health condition that weakens her immune system and makes her more susceptible to germs. We agreed that if you felt better today, you should be given a chance to help out before being granted a room."

Sarah processed this as she finished washing the rest of the dishes. When she handed David the final plate to dry, she drained the water and grabbed another rag to dry off her hands. "Any reason why I couldn't just have a room to begin with? I thought the reason I'm here is to get better."

"You had already gotten a lot better. Besides," David put the final dish away and closed the cupboard, "This isn't a resort, Sarah. We're leaving in a couple of days… at least I am." He cast her a meaningful glance, allowing the impact to hang between them.

"Does that mean you don't care if I stay behind or not?"

"You haven't told me what you intend to do from here, Sarah," David pointed out, placing one hand against the counter and looking her in the eye. "I've given you as much time and space as I can. I know you need to adjust after everything that has happened. The news of your mother's passing hit you hard, too. But you cannot ignore reality any longer, and I can't talk to you if you won't tell me your plans or goals.

"Therefore," David concluded, "you have two options. You can either stay here for a couple more days, and allow Mrs. Hendell to give you a chance as a house maid with some training from her included in the deal. She'll keep you on and pay you if it works out. Or, you can come with me when I leave… _for a little while,_ and I can do my best to help you learn how to focus and discipline yourself to keep the wolf inside of you."

"Did you discuss all these plans with Mrs. Hendell?" Sarah asked, absorbing his lecture.

"She's taken a liking to you, Sarah, and she thinks you do good housework." David folded his arms. "I'll be honest. I would prefer it if you came with me, at least until I can be sure you can control the wolf, but that isn't my decision. If you would like to stay here and take your chances, you should. Keep in mind that you'll need to move on if you end up changing into the wolf. The people here don't know that part about you, and they won't be as understanding as I am if they were to find out. You could be shot, or sent right back to another lab."

The weight of his words draped over her like a heavy cloak as she considered everything he said. "Here, let's sit down," he gently urged, guiding her into the next room.

"Is… this what you have to do, move on every time you change?" Sarah asked.

"Yeah."

"How do you do it?"

"I do it because I have no choice."

"I'm not staying here," Sarah declared. "These people are nice, but they're strangers and they don't know anything about me other than they think I was sick with the flu." She looked rather unnerved, reality finally setting in a bit more. "David, you're the only person I can really talk to who knows and understands. Please don't leave me here."

"Alright, Sarah." He took her hand, trying to soothe her panic mode before she became more anxious. He was used to this kind of life, after all, and he only knew what worked for him up until this point.

"I think it would be better if you come with me. I'll help you for at least a few more days, assuming we can find a place where we can have space and privacy. We can run a few exercises and work on controlling your metamorphosis.

"But," he held up a finger, "with the understanding that I can't help you _forever._ You're going to learn how to help yourself, but you must also be willing to do it."

Sarah hung her head, momentarily overwhelmed by the prospect of having to learn how to function like this alone eventually. Tasha was long gone. There would be no rented house to come to anymore, no steady meals ready for her, when she felt like being human. She wouldn't have the freedom to run off into the woods or return and use the spare bedroom as a reclusive sanctuary.

Right now, she had David, but she would be gently pushed into another direction until she could operate a certain way on her own and she could blend in with society and follow its rules and general flow a lot better than she was used to.

David gave her a light hug. "We'll take it slow," he told her. "I'm not going to leave you anytime soon," he promised, "you just need to do your best, okay? I won't just leave you on the side of the road somewhere."

She perked up a little at that, but said nothing. She was used to the easy life and since then, she had gotten used to the terrible treatment at the hands of Esben and his lab assistants. Then turned to learning how to act like a wolf in the woods near the house Tasha had rented.

All of this would take some time to get used to, a period of adjustment. Hopefully, with David's help, she would discover a new normal.

"W-when do we leave?" she finally asked.

"I think you should get to bed," David said. "I will tell the Hendells we'll be leaving in the morning."

"Do you know where we will be going?"

"North."

Somehow, that simple answer did everything to tell her nothing and tell her everything she would need to know about the next few days.

"North, then," Sarah sighed.

David stood in the doorway and regarded her for a long moment. "It's not too late to change your mind, if you would prefer to try it out here." He made an off-hand gesture. "A comfortable bed for at least a few more days, a job of sorts, nice people and …"

"No." She cut him off. "I'm not ready for this. I would rather stick with you."

David nodded gravely. "Alright. Be up early. I'm leaving by 8 am," To instill the seriousness of the situation, David added, "with or without you," and he meant it.

He didn't say anything further, there seemed to be a wordless sentiment that passed between them.

Sarah, welcome to _my_ way of life...

**The End.**


End file.
